By Solomon Hamala
MAYUGE
The Chief Registrar of the Uganda Judiciary has called upon members of the public to report corrupt court officials for disciplinary action.
Sarah Langa SIU made the call at an anti-corruption Baraza at Mayuge district on 8th December, 2021.
Langa noted that no court official should extort any money from the public for any service.
“Most services like bail are free and no one should ask you for money for that,” she said adding that the public should also visit courts to follow court proceedings as this will give them more knowledge about how business moves at court.
Langa also noted that there is an upcoming magistrate recruitment, where the Judiciary is to recruit over 40 magistrates, to ease on the number of delayed cases.
There are over 390 over stayed cases in Mayuge district, especially land, rape and defilement cases.
Langa revealed that the recruitment shall also be intended to reduce on the number of remands, and to quicken the trial processes.
“We have noted that the big number of remands and delayed cases is due to the limited number of magistrates, where one magistrate is oscillating between more than one district. This is what has caused the delay. We however have plans to have a magistrate for each district,” she said.
The district chairperson Mayuge, Frank Tibagendeka who also graced the occasion noted that this would be a relief and would save many lives.
He noted that overstaying of cases has led people into fights, in which lives have been lost, especially with land and defilement cases.
Iganga Chief Magistrate, Nanteza Zulaika urged local leaders and the public to mediate some cases to ease on the backlog of cases in the courts.
She also noted that there shall be no more court brokers and bush lawyers around courts, as these have promoted corruption.
“Some of these people extort monies from the public and claim to be giving this money to the magistrate which ain’t it. Whoever wants to see the magistrate should do it in person. We don’t ask for money for seeing us” she noted.
