The Hon. Principal Judge, Hon. Justice Dr. Bamwine at the Anti-Corruption open day
The Hon. Principal Judge, Hon.\r\nJustice Dr. Yorokamu Bamwine criticized the manner in which the officials of\r\nthe Inspectorate of Government (IGG) acted in a recent scenario where a\r\nmagistrate was set to be arrested for soliciting a bribe but somehow the set up\r\ntrap was miss-handled and the magistrate survived.
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Hon. Justice Dr. Bamwine explained\r\nthat a certain judicial officer had asked for a bribe, which bribe was to be\r\nreceived by court clerk on behalf of her boss.
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He further narrated that the IGG\r\nofficials were tipped off and set a trap to the effect. However, the IGG\r\nofficials acted very fast and arrested the court clerk instead of waiting a\r\nlittle longer till evening to arrest the judicial officer when the bribe was\r\nbeing handed over by the clerk.
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Hon. Justice Dr. Bamwine who is the\r\nadministrative head of the High Court said because the IGG officials rushed;\r\nthey missed to arrest the judicial officer who is a big fish and instead\r\narrested a court clerk who is a small fish.
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Hon. Justice Dr. Bamwine made these remarks\r\nduring the Anti-Corruption Court open day function in Kololo on December 4,\r\n2015.
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The theme for this year’s court open\r\nday was "The fight against syndicate corruption: What is my role”
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The Deputy IGG Mariam Wangadya, who\r\nwas present at the function, said she regretted the failure by her officials to\r\narrest the judicial officer but promised to act better next time.
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Speaking about the theme of this\r\nyear’s open court day celebrations, the Hon. Principal Judge said criminals are\r\nnot sleeping as they are apparently stealing as a syndicate and are very\r\nsophisticated unlike before when they used to steal as individuals.
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Bamwine, therefore, argued the\r\njudicial officers at the Kololo-based anti-graft court to be tough on\r\ncorruption suspects.
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Speaking at the same function the\r\nDeputy Director at CIID who is in charge of economic fraud, SCP William\r\nVictotye, called upon the drivers to stop presenting forged bank slips once\r\nthey are arrested for breaking traffic regulations and given express penalty\r\npay slips to pay in the banks.
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The police boss explained that Uganda\r\nRevenue Authority is harassing them for the several forged pay slips that he\r\nsaid are being rejected by URA.
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Corruption is the abuse or misuse of\r\npublic power, position, office or trust or resources for private benefit.
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In Uganda, the vice has reached a\r\ncancerous stage that has penetrated virtually all institutions including the\r\noffice of the IGG and Judiciary that are mandated to fight the same vice.
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During the plenary session in which\r\nthe public was allowed to direct their questions to the judicial officers, Paul\r\nOkong one of the litigants lamented why recommendations about the commissions\r\nof inquiries are never implemented.
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He added that most times, the\r\nculprits are seen walking on the streets scot free.
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The other question came from a city\r\nlawyer only identified as Mwebembezi. He wanted to know why the prosecution\r\nusually go after the small/low profile suspects (small fish) and leave out the\r\nhigh profile suspects (crocodiles). Issues of the court not being suitable to\r\nbe a court were also raised.
Posted 10th, December 2015
