Let’s heed Chief Justice’s call to eradicate corruption

Chief Justice Alfonse Owiny-Dollo last week rebuked court users alongside their relatives for enticing judicial officers with bribes to, in turn, arm-twist the wheels of justice in their favour.

The head of the Judiciary warned that unless this practice stops, corruption will continue in the temple of justice.

He defended his judges, saying it is usually desperate litigants who approach them with bribes and that on the contrary, the judicial officers rarely send court clerks to solicit bribes.

We partly agree with Justice Dollo’s clarion call to the court users. Some of the litigants, compelled by drawn-out judicial process that is clogged, devise means to bribe those in charge of the justice system for a quick way out.

Statistics from the Judiciary show that it takes an average of five years for a given case to be concluded. This is such a long period, and some cases can stretch up to 10 years.

The majority of these desperate litigants go through the court clerks, or people close to the judges, to channel their bribes. 

Anti-corruption reports have for years listed the Judiciary among the top five most corrupt government entities.

However, there is a saying that it takes two to tango. This is true on account that even if it’s the complainants who are initiating these bribes, the corruption chain will not come to completion if the judicial officer rejects it.

One of the reasons why some court users seek shortcuts as a means of justice and are willing to part with huge bribes is that the justice system is so clogged. This forces some of them to use other ways, including bribing judicial officers, to get quick justice.

Much as we are condemning the court users for bribing judicial officers, the justice chain should be well facilitated to ensure that cases do not overstay in our courts, thus causing unnecessary anxiety.

The annual Judiciary performance report of 2022/23 indicated that the Judiciary has 156,349 cases pending before it in all case categories. Of these, 42,960 were backlog.

A case becomes backlog if it has stayed in the justice system for more than two years without judgment.

Going forward, much as we condemn the desperate court users from tempting the officers in the temple of justice with bribes, let the authorities in the justice chain improve the delivery of justice such that the time spent to complete a case is shortened to at least a year.