Africa-Press – Uganda. Chief Justice Alfonse Owiny-Dollo has revealed that the Judiciary will recruit more 150 magistrates to adjudicate cases of corruption across the country.
Speaking to the media during an engagement meeting with the Inspector General of Government (IGG), Ms Beti Kamya, in Kampala yesterday, Chief Justice Owiny-Dollo said in the next financial year, all districts will have at least a chief magistrate.
“Before, we had only 40 chief magistrates, but this year, we increased to 82, but the number is still low because we find that one chief magistrate has other several magisterial areas that he or she has to attend to, which is still a challenge,” he said.
The Chief Justice said they had already commenced with the recruitment of magistrates and that an advert would soon run inviting for applicants.
“We are also going to recruit Grade One magistrates. Those areas which have not been having a magistrate will have and in the next financial year, they will be able to have a chief magistrate,” he said.
Justice Owiny-Dollo also noted that once they have the right number of magistrates, they would be able to work together with the IGG’s office to fight and eliminate corruption.
“After recruiting these magistrates, I will come up with a rule that no case should take more than 12 months, meaning when you file a case in January and the next January it is not disposed of, the judicial officer in charge of that area will have to explain in writing about the delay,” he said.
In her remarks, Ms Kamya said her new leadership will be tracking, investigating, prosecuting and jailing the corrupt and recovering the loot.
She was quick to add that they will also focus on the “prevention than cure” strategy as they carry on with their work.
“To achieve this, we intend to co-opt all Ugandans into the war against corruption. We intend to rebrand the war from being an Executive, Parliament, Judiciary, Inspectorate of Government, non-governmental organisations, and anti-corruption agencies’ war to a citizens’ war,” she said.
Ms Kamya said they want to exhibit the face of corruption in every classroom, every living room, every place of worship, every place of entertainment and every bedroom, so that everybody can recognise it.
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