Judiciary corruptible, says Katureebe
Chief Justice Bart Katureebe talks to the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee at the High Court in Kampala yesterday. PHOTO BY ABUBAKER LUBOWA
What you need to know:
The new Chief Justice said Judiciary is not immune to corruption.
Parliament. Chief Justice Bart Katureebe has admitted that the Judiciary is corruptible.
The vice, he said, contributes to inordinate delays in the processing of cases.
“We are not immune to it [corruption],” Justice Katureebe said yesterday at the High Court while meeting legislators on Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee.
“It is something we should talk about to see what we can do to remove that cancer.”
This is the first time a senior officer of the Bench has said the Judiciary is corruptible.
But such claims have been made by the general public before.
Mid this month, Mr Peter Mulira, a lawyer, said some lawyers write judgments for some judges.
And at the weekend, Prof George Kanyeihamba, a retired justice of the Supreme Court, said the Judiciary is corrupt.
While speaking at the annual Lawyers Day celebrations at Nkumba University, Prof Kanyeihamba claimed he knows of Ugandan judges who take bribes.
He, however, did not mention the names of the judges.
Yesterday’s interface was initiated by the Legal Affairs committee to seek the Judiciary’s proposed constitutional amendments as well as the challenges the Judiciary faces and how to address them.
Justice Katureebe also blamed limited manpower for the poor performance of the courts – in terms of clearing cases. He suggested the government appoints more judicial officers.
