The Hon. Principal Judge, Hon. Dr. Yorakamu Bamwine
The plea\r\nbargain was launched at the Anti-Corruption court in Kololo on Friday May 13,\r\n2016. The programme is aimed at reducing the huge case backlog. A plea bargain\r\nis an agreement struck in a criminal case between the prosecutor and the\r\naccused person in which the latter agrees to plead guilty to a particular\r\ncharge in return for either a lenient penalty or some deal from the prosecutor.
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On\r\nMay 13, 2016 the programme was officially launched in the presence of the\r\nPrincipal Judge., Hon. Justice Dr. Yorokamu Bamwine, the IGG Hon. Lady Justice Irene\r\nMulyagonja, Hon. Justice Lawrence Gidudu, the head of the Anti-Corruption\r\ncourt, and Hon. Lady Justice Margaret Tibulya.
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The\r\nlaunch saw two people accused of graft pleading guilty as part of a plea\r\nbargain deal. Prosecution alleged that between September 13 and 16, 2011, Mr. Ausi\r\nBalikanda, a community health mobilizer, and Mr. Patrick Kasumba, a police\r\nofficer, conducted operations and arrested people without home pit latrines and\r\nkitchens in Kyankwanzi district.
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After\r\narresting 25 people, the duo demanded for bribes to release the offenders. The\r\nbribes ranged from money, chicken to maize. Police estimated the total value of\r\nthe bribes at Shs 600,000.
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So,\r\nwhen the case came up before the Anti-Corruption court Grade One Magistrate, His\r\nWorship Peter Lochomin, the Senior State Attorney Tom Walugembe said the\r\naccused had accepted to plead guilty in exchange for a non-custodial sentence\r\nof Shs 1.5 Million each. The prosecutor said some of money would be given to\r\nthe victims.
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In\r\nher speech, Hon. Lady Justice Mulyagonja warned that the Judiciary should\r\nshield plea bargaining from any possible abuse by corrupt people.
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"Some\r\ncorrupt individuals might start accepting crimes so that other people in the\r\nracket walk away unscathed in what we call syndicate corruption. That’s why we\r\nshould be very careful when rolling out this programme,” she said.
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She\r\nalso warned that if people are not well-sensitized, they might construe plea\r\nbargain to be a form of soft landing for the corrupt. "People\r\nwill start saying that even if you steal, you just come [in court] and accept\r\nthen you get a soft punishment,” she warned.
\r\nThe Anti-Corruption court was established in August 2008 to adjudicate all\r\ncorruption-related cases.
Posted 16th, May 2016
