Magistrates Sworn In and Get Laptops

Uganda’s Chief Justice, Hon. Justice Bart Katureebe vowed to have Magistrates thrown behind the bars if they engage in corruption tendencies.

One of the newly appointed magistrates takes oath

Hon. Justice Katureebe made the remarks on May 7, 2015 during the swearing in ceremony for 8 newly appointed Grade One Magistrates at the High Court in Kampala.

"If you joined the profession in order to make money, then you are in a wrong place or else you will end up in jail. You are here to play an important role in the dispensation of justice and not engaging in other acts,” Hon. Justice Katureebe warned.

"Cases of corruption are there in the Judiciary and its true we are inadequately remunerated but this should not be an excuse to be corrupted. We have to bear with it (little pay) as government gets more resources otherwise do not undermine your career because of money.”

According to the Chief Justice, the Judiciary is crucial in the administration of good governance and all judicial officers ought to live by the oaths they swear on inception to the profession.

"We are an essential ingredient for good governance and it’s a challenge for us to promote administration of justice as part of good governance. Each time you delay giving a judgment, you are delaying justice which is a sign of either incompetence or having been corrupted.”

Hon. Justice Katureebe retorted that Magistrates are key in the restoration of public trust in the judiciary which he said can only be achieved through dispensation of justice independently and in a fair manner to all.

He equated the newly appointed Magistrates to new brooms that sweep clean urging them to always follow their code of conduct while carrying out their duties.

"Your private and public life will always be judged on your code of conduct as the public looks at you as promoters of fundamental freedoms. You should always promote reconciliation between warring parties.”

Meanwhile, the Chief Justice, Hon. Justice Bart Katureebe handed over 47 laptops to Chief Magistrates from courts all over the country. Handing them over at a function held at High Court, Hon. Justice Katureebe noted that this is move intended to ease the work of the judicial officers in their dispensation of justice.

"We are in the new era of technology which necessitates the use of new gadgets for communication, research and keeping in touch with other people in the judiciary in other parts of the world. This will replace the use of papers and help you extend frontiers of justice to all without discrimination,” Katureebe said of the new laptops to the Chief Magistrates.