The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Judicial Service Commission has dismissed Masaka Deputy Registrar Cissy Mudhasi Kawuma and Chief Magistrate Ruth Nabaasa for misconduct. According to the statement issued by the Judicial Service Commission, Mudhasi was dismissed for abusing her judicial authority by ordering the attachment of the accounts belonging to Makerere University, Uganda Nurses and Midwives Council, and a private individual without following proper legal procedures.
Additionally, she defied the Chief Justice’s instructions by entertaining execution proceedings during the COVID-19 suspension period. On the other hand, Ruth Nabaasa has been dismissed for abusing her judicial authority by entertaining a matter outside her jurisdiction. She disobeyed orders of a High Court Judge to determine the value of properties, which would have ascertained whether the matter was within her jurisdiction.
On June 24th, 2020, Mudhasi, the then Masaka High Court Deputy Registrar, was interdicted by the then Acting Chief Registrar Tom Chemutai, accusing her of three offenses, including producing poor shoddy work and conducting herself in a manner prejudicial to the image, dignity, and reputation of the service, contrary to the Judicial Service Regulations of 2005.
It was stated that Mudhasi had conspired with lawyers Akleo Mugisha and Martha Orishaba, and the RAM Engineering Company Director Julius Mugambagye to defraud Makerere University of 3.5 billion Shillings, among other allegations. According to court records seen by URN, Mudhasi, who is considered the prime suspect in this matter, did this during May and June 2020, when she was employed as the Deputy Registrar.
She abused her office and did an arbitrary act prejudicial to the interest of her employer. The records show that this was done when Mudhasi reportedly issued ex parte court orders for the attachment of money from the Stanbic bank account of Makerere University to satisfy a non-existent arbitral award that had purportedly been won by Ram Engineering Uganda Limited without ascertaining if the University owed the company anything.
In 2021, Mudhasi secured a temporary injunction blocking the Uganda Police Force and the State House Anti-Corruption Unit from continuing with the inquiries into this alleged fraud pending the determination of her main case seeking to challenge the criminal investigations into her judicial work. The order was issued by the head of the Civil Division, Justice Musa Ssekaana.
“The actions of the respondent agents are a threat to the applicant’s constitutional rights. This court, as a custodian of the Constitution, ought to issue orders that would ensure that the Constitution is not violated since the alleged violation will not be atoned for in damages or be adequately compensated with any amount of money or earthly possessions,” said Ssekaana.
The dismissal now implies that investigations can continue. On May 17th, 2023, the Judicial Service Commission also dismissed Rakai Court Grade One Magistrate Latif Abubaker Nakibinge for withdrawing money from a Court Operation Fund Account and failing to hand it over to the owner.
Nakibinge was dismissed after the commission received a complaint that he had withdrawn money from Centenary Bank funds amounting to Shillings 7,088,700 shillings, which was deposited into the Rakai Court Operation Fund Account as defendant costs in respect of civil suit number One of 2017, and failed to hand it over to Kamugunda of Matovu and Kamugunda and Company Advocates, who were representing the respondent.
Relatedly, the Commission, in its meeting held on May 12th, 2023, also decided to severely reprimand Moses Kule Lubangula, a Chief Magistrate in Kamwengye, for having presided ex parte over a matter that was outside the scope of Magistrate Grade One jurisdiction. The matter, in this case, involved one Mutesasira John versus Mukasa Galiwango, but the subject matter was beyond the pecuniary jurisdiction of a Grade One Magistrate.
“Secondly, you proceeded to hear the said application ex parte contrary to the Chief Justice’s Directive of 2016 that expressly forbade granting ex parte orders without notifying the opposite party in the matter and with no affidavit of service having been filed on record,” the source indicates.
59-year-old Lubangula was equally charged with abuse of judicial authority and acting in contravention of the Uganda Code of Judicial Conduct, contrary to regulation 23(j) of the Judicial Service Commission regulations. But based on the evidence that was brought before the commission in the hearing concluded by the Disciplinary Committee, he was accused of having committed the said disciplinary offenses as charged.
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