Bugisu Cooperative Union petitions Judicial Service Commission over Judge Mugambe conduct

Bugisu Cooperative Union (BCU) has petitioned the Judicial Service Commission to investigate and punish Justice Lydia Mugambe in the High court Civil Division for alleged unprofessional conduct.

BCU is unhappy with the manner in which Justice Mugambe handled the matter between Bududi Cooperative Society Limited Vs Bugisu Cooperative Society and the Registrar of cooperatives. Last week, Justice Mugambe issued orders halting the Annual General Meeting of BCU that had been convened to pave way for the election of a new board following the expiry of the term of the old board.

Mugambe's order stemmed from an application by Budidi Grower's Cooperative Society Ltd, one of the primary societies under BCU whose members ran to court citing flaws in the electoral guidelines set by the union.

However, the order by the Judge to suspend the BCU Annual General Meeting-AGM hasn't gone down with the outgoing board chairperson, Nathan Nandala Mafabi. In his November 16th, 2018 letter to the Judicial Service Commission, Nandala says it was unprofessional for the judge to handle the application of an interim order yet the civil Division has 2 registrars who handle such matters.

He also says the judge erroneously issued the orders against Bugisu Cooperative Union because the application was against Bugisu Cooperative Society Limited, which is a distinct entity.

Nandala now wants the Judicial Service Commission to investigate the judge immediately and take disciplinary action against her for making the union loose more than Shillings 500 million that had been spent in organizing the meeting.

The Judicial Service Commission acknowledged receipt of the letter on November 19th, 2018