Kagaba wants 700 judicial officials punished for misconduct

The Executive Director of Uganda’s Anti-Corruption Coalition Cissy Kagaba has demanded that the Judicial Service Commission takes punitive measures against over 700 judicial officers dragged to them for misconduct and unfairness in the past two years.

Kagaba was speaking during the release of a report on errant judicial officers at Grand Imperial Hotel in Kampala.

“Of course some of these cases may not be corruption related but the fact that the public is reporting, they ought to see action being taken. Failure to do so may erode public confidence with people thinking there is connivance or collusion between the judicial service commission and the judicial officers,” she said on Monday.

She said an assessment of the auditor general’s report indicates that several complaints were registered with the Judicial Commission concerning the conduct of judicial officers but until now no disciplinary action has been taken.

“It is imperative that the cases are handled expeditiously in order to restore public confidence and also to ensure that the names of judicial officers who are actually innocent are exonerated in the process,” said Kagaba.

Kagaba noted that as civil society actors in the fight against corruption, they recommended that members of the judicial service commission be made full time members to help dispose of the cases quickly.

However a legal officer at the judicial service commission attributed the delay to punish errant offices to low staffing levels with investigations said to be taking close to one and half years.

****

edtior@independent.co.ug