Address concerns of judicial officers

On Thursday, this newspaper published an article basing on a dossier penned by a Grade One Magistrate from Amuru District to Chief Justice Bart Katureebe. In the open letter, the judicial officer states that magistrates earn a meagre salary which is not enough to sustain them in the high cost of living today, and that they only survive by preying on court litigants; that they are surviving on court users handouts.

He refers to what he, together with his cohort earn as a mockery yet they are expected to be fair in dispensing justice to the public. His fear is that he cannot arbitrate independently under such circumstances. The judicial officer asks the Chief Justice to lift up the plight of magistrates which is so low and make them believe they belong to the institution.

This public confession is an indictment against the judicial officers charged with the responsibility of dispensing justice. But more concern is how the Judiciary in the face of one of their own admitting ‘guilt’ is going to address itself to such a matter that is likely to create discomfort to court users who are economically disadvantaged, to get justice in courts of law where such magistrates preside over. There truly must be a modicum of trust in courts for litigants to rest assured that the temple of justice will forever be relied upon as the last line of resort to settle their grievances.

Of course there have been public concerns before that sometimes magistrates have relied on other inducements to pass their court judgments. This dossier clearly stating what has been on some people’s mind will not make the matters any better.

The Chief Justice says government has failed to address the issue of low remuneration of the lower bench, which is exacerbating the problem. He notes that there is nothing new in the dossier which he has not brought to the attention of the highest levels of government. So, is government becoming an accomplice in the miscarriage of justice?

Well, the concerned magistrate whose dossier has been largely welcomed by fellow colleagues, suggests a quick remedy to arrest this alarming situation. He proposes that the Judiciary cut money allocated to the criminal sessions and at least give each a monthly allowance of Shs3m.

This sounds like a good proposal but then what happens to criminal sessions? We strongly believe that the lasting remedy to this persistent cry by the lower Bench, is for government to treat the Judiciary as one of the arms of the State and allocate to them sufficient funding. An MP who is from the other arm of State (Legislature), earns about Shs20m and yet a Grade One Magistrate who sometimes oversees more than five districts, earns a meagre Shs1.5m. What a disparity.

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