JUDICIARY Latest Features

President Museveni appointed Supreme Court Justice, Hon. Justice Hon. Justice Bart Katureebe as\r\nChief Justice designate Daily Monitor had an interview with him on a wide range\r\nof issues affecting the Judiciary as well as his plans for the institution.

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When\r\nyou received the news about your appointment as Chief Justice, what was your\r\nfirst reaction to the same?

\r\nWe were attending the Golden Jubilee of Muntuyera High School, Kitunga in\r\nNtungamo as old boys. I felt uneasy as I received many messages and calls so I\r\ndecided to switch off my phone. But at that time, I treated the rumor as a\r\nhoax.
\r\nBut when the Principal Judge (Hon. Justice Yorokamu Bamwine) felt confident\r\nenough to announce it publicly at the function, then other people started\r\nsaying they had heard of it on news and read it on the internet, I said may be\r\nit could be true but importantly, when the Prime Minister Hon. Ruhakana Rugunda\r\nmade reference to the appointment in his speech, people started referring to me\r\nnow as Chief Justice designate. 
\r\nThe Prime Minister said: "yes Chief Justice designate, we know that the whole\r\ncountry has been waiting for the name Hon. Justice Bart Katureebe, we do not\r\nexpect to have problems with Parliament.” 
\r\nSo, we said if it has come from the Prime Minister, it must be true. But till\r\nthat point, I had remained skeptical because nobody had called me. I understand\r\nsince I had switched off the phones, they could not get me but I am told they\r\ntried to reach me.

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Your\r\nappointment as the head of the third arm of state has been widely welcomed by\r\npeople across the board. This means that the people have faith in you as CJ,\r\nwhat new ideas and innovations do you bring to Judiciary?

\r\nI am humbled but gratified to hear of the massive support from the people of\r\nthis country for a job that is both stressing and challenging.
\r\nIt is stressing in the sense that I can move forward knowing that I have\r\nsupport of the population and a challenge because I must try to live up to\r\ntheir expectations. Now I won’t be carried away that I can satisfy the\r\nexpectations of everybody.
\r\nThe Chief Justice by himself cannot satisfy all the challenges that the Judiciary\r\nas the third branch of State faces. 
\r\nBut the Chief Justice as the Chief Administrator and head of that department\r\nshould open up lines of communication with other branches of government to\r\nensure they too give support to Judiciary in administering justice to the\r\npeople of this country.
\r\nUnder this administration of justice, there so many things like the Judiciary\r\ngetting the necessary tools, funds, and personnel in terms of numbers and\r\nquality to do the job. 

\r\nIf I had all the power as Chief Justice, for example, to appoint Judges that\r\nthe courts need, probably I would do it tomorrow, but I wouldn’t appoint the Judges\r\nwithout consulting the Executive to see how much funds are available in the\r\nNational Budget to do that. 
\r\nNow that I have this support and the country expects me to do something about\r\nthe Judiciary, I believe I will succeed in convincing the other arms to prioritize\r\nthe needs of the Judiciary alongside other priorities in the context of\r\nadministration of justice and good governance of the country. 

\r\nIf I can get more resources allocated to the Judiciary in terms of more\r\nfinances, personnel and recruitment of Judges for example, I would be on the\r\nright path in answering some of the expectations the people have in me.

\r\nI would strengthen the inspection arm in the Judiciary so that some of the\r\nmalpractices that are reported in the Judiciary especially in the lower Bench\r\ncan be checked. 
\r\nSometimes you have people working but if they are not properly supervised,\r\nsometimes you have some magistrates reporting to work at 11am, midday and yet\r\ncourts are supposed to be opening for people at 9am. I believe with a strong\r\nadministration and supervision we can check that.

\r\nBut to achieve that, it’s not a matter of opening the lines of communication\r\nwith the other branches of government but also with internal cohesion to\r\ndiscuss with other leaders of the court. For example, the Constitution says the\r\ndeputy Chief Justice administers Court of Appeal and Constitutional Court on\r\nbehalf of the Chief Justice.

\r\nThis means there must be an open channel of communication between the CJ and\r\nthe person to assist him to run that court so that the Judges there should feel\r\nfree to come to CJ in the event that there is a matter that can’t be solved by\r\nthe deputy Chief Justice and that will call for regular meetings with deputy\r\nChief Justice so that matters of administration can be smoothed out and create\r\nan internal cohesion.

\r\nThe Principal Judge assists the CJ to administer justice at the High Court and\r\nthe subordinate courts; that means there must be an open line of communication\r\nbetween CJ and the Principal Judge.

\r\nAnd then the Uganda Judges and Magistrates Association, there must be that\r\nlinkage right from the Supreme Court down to the lowest magistrate court so\r\nthat the Chief Justice knows everything that is going on. 

\r\nOnce we can sort this out and people get to appreciate their roles, and are\r\nmotivated, I think we can get back on the right path and with that I hope I\r\nwill get support from the other two arms of government.

\r\nPolitically, the Supreme Court is a very\r\nimportant court as it has the powers to overturn a presidential election once\r\nit finds irregularities. Given the fact that the general elections are around\r\nthe corner; can the Supreme Court under your leadership overturn a presidential\r\nelection at the expense of a country going into lawlessness?

\r\nThe primary thing to look at is not what may be at the back of your mind. First\r\nand foremost, two people have come before you. This one says I stood and I was\r\ncheated of victory and this is my evidence to prove it. 

\r\nAnd someone says no, I won fair and square, his evidence is false. As the Judge,\r\nwithout even thinking about what will happen, I have a duty to do justice\r\nbetween these two people based on their evidence, what does the law say, I look\r\nat the law and I look at the evidence. 
\r\nHas this man proved his case and has this one disapproved the case of the other;\r\nthis is what should basically guide the court.

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You\r\ntake on the Judiciary at the time when there are salient issues of intrigue and\r\ninfighting amongst some senior staff. As the administrative head, how are you\r\ngoing to bring about harmony?

\r\nI also heard about that talk at the Judges’ conference but we were not told\r\nexactly who was fighting who and for what reason. But as the head of the Judiciary,\r\nI am going to find out who is specifically fighting who and why, so that we may\r\ncounsel them.

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The\r\nCourt of Appeal has been accused of taking sides in some political cases\r\nespecially those involving the ruling party, as the new head of the Judiciary,\r\ndo you have plans to bring ‘sanity’ into this court?

\r\nVarious people may have had misgivings or misunderstandings about what the\r\ncourt decided but it is simple, there is an avenue, all matters decided upon by\r\nthe Constitutional Court are appealable. It’s not enough to say oh, this Judge\r\nI think is NRM and so on. 

\r\nIf you are dissatisfied with the decision of that court and you have a legal\r\ncase and grounds for appeal then you bring the matter to Supreme Court. The\r\nCourt of Appeal is not the final for constitutional matters. 

\r\nA case may have been heard in Court of Appeal by five Judges but when it comes\r\nto the Supreme Court, it will be heard by seven Judges, surely if you have\r\nsomething of substance, you can’t say all these seven Judges would have been on\r\none side. 
\r\nSome of these allegations are due to lack of trust in the system and part of my\r\nchallenges is to restore that trust if it has been lessened in any way.

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Corruption and case backlog have\r\nbeen Judiciary’s biggest challenges that have dented its image. How will you\r\nbring back the lost public confidence in the temple of justice?
\r\nThis country has been talking about corruption, before I got to the Judiciary,\r\nlet’s talk about corruption generally. The first anti-corruption law I think\r\nwas passed in 1970 and the latest was passed few years ago. 

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\r\nWhy do we have anti-corruption legislation, it can’t be because there is\r\ncorruption in the Judiciary. It must be because there is corruption in the\r\nsociety. And where do we get people who become judicial officers, certainly\r\nfrom the same society.

\r\nIf you have been a corrupt lawyer,\r\nstealing people’s money, hiding evidence, bribing police and magistrates and\r\nyou are appointed Judge, do you suddenly become an angel because you have\r\nbecome a Judge? 

No. I want people to look at the problem from the societal\r\npoint of view. 
\r\nWhen someone gets arrested by police for an offence even for viral offences\r\nlike rape, defilement, who are the people who go and bribe police, State\r\nAttorneys and magistrates to free their person, members of the society even\r\nsome times parents of the victim, want to settle the matter out of court. All\r\nthat goes to show you the problem of tackling corruption does not just lie in\r\nthe Judiciary. If it’s for example bribery; there is the one who bribes, the\r\none bribed and the beneficiary of the decision. 

\r\nAll these are parties to corruption but when the society talks about corruption\r\nin the Judiciary, they only look at that one angle, the Judge or magistrate as\r\nthe corrupt one and do not consider the person who took him a bribe. By the\r\nway, corruption is not only about money, even phone calls. Because you’re if case\r\nis before a Judge who is your brother, friend, political friend and you call\r\nthem and tell them of an upcoming matter in which you have interest is\r\ncorruption. 

\r\nThat is corruption because you are\r\ntrying to influence that Judge to look at your evidence with a biased mind in\r\nyour favor. So, how are we going to fight those instances of corruption?

\r\nAs judicial officers, we are going to try to clean up our own house. If we\r\ncatch you accepting a bribe, or being influenced in this type of manner, there\r\nare avenues for dealing with it. 
\r\nWe have the Judicial Service Commission and if you are a magistrate or\r\nregistrar, you can be handled there decisively. I think you have heard that\r\nsome have been reprimanded and some prosecuted, and demoted by the Judiciary. 

\r\nIf you are a Judge, and the Judicial Service Commission is satisfied that the\r\nevidence against you in this matter of misconduct is sufficient, they will\r\nestablish a tribunal to investigate you. And the Constitution says you must be\r\nsuspended when you are being investigated. So come with that evidence and lodge\r\nthat complaint and let the people who are supposed to handle it, handle it. 

\r\nBut there are matters of an internal nature, when a complaint comes up, as Chief\r\nJustice do I ignore it or follow it up? 

I intend to follow up every single\r\ncomplaint that will be made against a judicial officer, take an interest in it.\r\nI can’t say I am the one who will be doing the investigations but cause proper\r\ninvestigations to be done so that a remedial action is taken but we shall do\r\nthis as a team. But I would urge the public to help us to solve the bigger\r\nproblem. Stop trying to influence our judicial officers, stop calling them on\r\nphones. 

\r\nPersonally, I had a situation several years ago I went to a farm, my farm\r\nsomewhere and a friend, a fellow farmer asked if he could come to see me. Sure,\r\nI said come but he came with a friend whom I didn't know. 

\r\nWe talked about cows and so on and then he eventually told his friend that the Judge\r\nis about to go back to Kampala and that he had better narrate his ordeal. The\r\nfriend said you know I filed case at the High Court in Kampala. 

\r\nI said, oh that will be handled there. No, he said, "the case is coming before\r\nyou next Tuesday as a single Judge.” That raised in me a red flag. I told him\r\nnot to talk about it. 
\r\nHe said he just wanted to brief me about it. I tried to explain to him the\r\ndangers in that. The danger is this: If I had listened to him and the following\r\nday listened to his case and fortunately it had merits and I rule in his favor, he would go around talking of how we had had a prior meeting. When I\r\nreached Kampala, I asked another Judge to handle it.

\r\nWe are also investigating cases of lawyers who are asking for so much money\r\nfrom clients reasoning that part of it is for a Judge and in most cases, the Judges\r\nin question are not aware of such an arrangement.
\r\nAs leaders, we shall try to clean our house of all cases of corruption.

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Other tasks awaiting the CJ

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· Pay rise for judicial officers.

· Ensure judicial officers meet the\r\nproposed work targets. 

· Lobby for increased budgetary\r\nallocation to the Judiciary.

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The procedure for selecting a CJ

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· The Judicial Service Commission\r\nadvertises in the media for suitable candidates to apply.

· They develop a shortlist and forward\r\nit to the President who is the appointing authority.

· The President picks from the list a\r\nperson whose name he forwards to the Speaker of Parliament for approval by the\r\nAppointments Committee.

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This interview was published by Daily Monitor on\r\nMarch 12, 2015

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