Judiciary to discipline magistrates over corruption

JUDICIARY   CORRUPTION

KAMPALA - Judiciary says it will take disciplinary action on seven of its employees over corruption. 

The employees include two magistrates and five support staff, Judiciary said in a statement on Thursday.

"The implicated staff are those that appeared in last year's media reports on corruption tendencies at selected courts arising out of investigations conducted by the Vision Group and the Democratic Governance Facility (DGF)," the statement said.

According to the statement, action against the staff (names withheld) was decided by the Judiciary Top management following an investigation.

The decision was reached after Judiciary's Top Management headed by Chief Justice Bart Katureebe reviewed a report of the Taskforce in December 2019.

According to the Judiciary, the implicated staff include two court attendants, two court clerks, and a process server ae attached to the Magistrate Court of Wakiso, Goma, City Hall, Mukono, and Nabweru.

The decision to take action was reached after the judiciary's task force reportedly interfaced with the media, reviewed material, and related documents interviewed implicated individuals and conducted field visits in the process of executing their mandate. 

"The taskforce has therefore proposed recommendations in this report which if adopted and executed will invariably attempt to address the highlighted challenges," the statement said.

Pius Bigirimana, the Judiciary permanent secretary, has reportedly been tasked to interdict the implicated employees and task disciplinary action in accordance with the Public Service Standing orders.

"It is the disciplinary process which will determine whether to forward the implicated officers to the Judicial Service Commission and Public Service Commission for further action," Katureebe said.

Dr. immaculate Busingye, formerly the Registrar Inspectorate of Court (now high court judge), chaired the nine-member task force.

Members included High Court judges Vicent Mugabo, Susan Abinyo, Rosemary Bareebe (deputy registrar), Ayebare Tumwebaze (assistant registrar), Patrick Baruhagare (Principal Human Resource Officer), Solomon Muyita (Principal Communication Officer) and Eva Kentaro Mugerwa ( an advocate).