Judiciary Launches Specialized Court to Deal with Utilities, Wildlife & Standards
The Hon. Chief Justice, Hon. Justice Bart Katureebe launching the Utilities Court at the High Court in Kampala
Kampala. The Judiciary has yet again launched a specialized court to deal with prosecution of culprits involved in stealing of utilities like power, water, vandalism, dealing in fake goods, killing of wildlife among others.
The court will be housed at Buganda Road Court premises for the start before rolling out to other parts of the country.
So far, three court officials at the rank of magistrates have been designated to preside over these special cases.
They include; His Worship James Ereemye(Chief Magistrate), Her Worship Gladys Kamasanyu and Her Worship Agnes Mangeni who are both at the rank of Grade One Magistrate.
Speaker after speaker of the various organizations that will have the culprits prosecuted in this specialized court, have asked the Judiciary to prioritize and fast track the prosecution of the cases to save Ugandans from lose of revenue and save life in cases of adulteration of customer goods.
Chief Justice who was the chief guest,in his remarks said the creation of yet another specialized court is a big step in saving the country's economy from offenders who were talking advantage to steal and vandalized government utilities.
He urged the three judicial officers who have been designated to handle these matters to execute their work diligently and with the highest degree of integrity.
The Chief Justice also encouraged the designated magistrates to always bench mark and do research so that they are abreast with the law around this new court. He also warned them not to have any case backlog as it is in other courts.
Principal Judge Yorokamu Bamwine in his remarks gave a brief history of how the dream to have this particular specialized court was hatched.
He explained that a team from National Water and Sewerage Corporation approached him and asked him to fast track cases involving water theft a couple of years ago.
He went on to narrate that he immediately consulted the Chief Justice and Chief Registrar who bought the idea of creating a specialized court and that the dream has come to pass.
Further in his remarks, Hon. Justice Bamwine asked the designated magistrates to serve the litigants diligently and with a smile on their faces since most of them come to court with problems and that they should not add an insult to their problems.
The PJ also asked the magistrates not to only think of imprisonment of the offenders but to make them pay their pending bills, which money he said will go into the boosting the economy.
This court now becomes the latest specialized court after Anti Corruption Court that deals with corruption cases and International Crimes Division of the High Court that deals with terrorism related cases, human trafficking and cases under the Rome Statute as well as the Commercial Court that deals with business related cases.
Posted 26th, May 2017
