Justice Bamwine, 8 others set to retire

Kampala. Principal Judge Yorokamu Bamwine and eight other senior officers will leave judicial service this year upon clocking their retirement age.
Records from the Judiciary show that Justice Bamwine will be officially retired on December 25 this year at the age of 65
The Principal Judge is third in the Judiciary hierarchy after the Chief Justice and deputy Chief Justice.
Other senior judges to retire are Justice Moses Mukiibi, the head of the International Crimes Division of the High Court (ICD), who will retire in May, Justice Albert F. Rugadya Atwooki, the Masindi resident judge who will leave in September and Margaret-Oguli Oumo (the deputy head ICD) who also retires in the same month.
Among the retirees are two court registrars who will turn 60 this year. They are Ms Joy Bahinguza Kabagye, the assistant registrar of the High Court Civil Division and Mr Thadeus Opesen, the assistant registrar at Lira High Court.
Also retiring are three magistrates at the rank of Grade One Mr Everest Palodi (Kaberamaido court), Mr Simon Peter Odoo (Aduku court) and Ms Stella Nuwagaba (Mengo court).
Justice Bamwine will be remembered, among other achievements, for introducing plea-bargaining, a new judicial mechanism that encourages culpable suspects to plead guilty to the alleged offences in return for lenient sentencing.
Through this mechanism, hundreds of suspects have pleaded guilty thus saving the time courts and prosecution would have spent on full trial presenting and evaluating evidence.
Plea bargaining has also reduced the case backlog in the Judiciary. “I am indeed set to hang up the proverbial boots come December this year. There is a full year to go and there is a lot to accomplish before I call it quits,” Justice Bamwine told Daily Monitor yesterday.
The Principal Judge is the administrative head of the High Court and the subordinate courts.
Justice Bamwine will also be remembered for his role in developing sentencing guidelines for both capital and minor offences and sexual-gender based violence cases. His retirement will pile more pressure on the already understaffed Judiciary.
The current number of High Court judges stands at 51 against the Parliament-approved High Court structure of 82.
Efforts to reach the Judicial Service Commission (JSC )chairperson, Justice Benjamin Kabiito, and the JSC secretary, Dr Rose Nassali Lukwago, were futile as their cellular phone lines were off.