By Solomon Hamala
IGANGA
The New Chief Magistrate Iganga, has warned the general public against giving money to the so called brokers who hang around court premises.
Zulaika Nanteza sounded the warning in an exclusive interview with this website at her chambers on Friday 16th April 2021. Nanteza said these ‘brokers’ dupe the unsuspecting litigants to give them money apparently to bribe Magistrates to rule in their favour.
“These fake brokers who hang around court premises have on several occasions extorted huge sums of money from unsuspecting people claiming they are taking the bribes to magistrates to make rulings in their favor,” she revealed.
Nanteza said most people fear approaching judicial officers and instead rely on brokers with a hope of resolving their problems.
Nanteza who was responding to questions relating to corruption in the Judiciary also said the Judicial Authorities have introduced uniforms for judiciary staff to help members of the public easily identify corrupt officials for necessary action.
She said it has been previously hard to identify corrupt staff within the judiciary simply because they lacked identification tags.
“It will be easy for anyone to pin anyone who would have received a bribe unlike in the past,” she said.
She also attributed the increase in defilement cases in Busoga region on parents who demand bribes from offenders in order to release the suspects from custody and only return to courts of law when there is a misunderstanding.
Nanteza said she is to organize radio talk shows soon to sensitize members of the public about the dangers of demanding bribes from offenders involved in defilement besides cautioning persons with court cases against giving out money to brokers who hang outside courts in order to receive justice in their favor.
Nanteza who was previously the Chief Magistrate Pallisa took over from Jessica Kimeri who was transferred to Kampala early last week.
The Resident District Commissioner Iganga, Thomas Matende cautioned parents against commercializing defilement by demanding bribes from suspects saying it’s an offense and anyone found guilty risks being arrested and charged before courts of law.
