Chief Justice warns judges, magistrates against abusing authority
With the increasing number of land cases before courts of Laws, the Chief Justice, Bart Katureebe, has strongly warned judges and Magistrates against abusing authority while administering justice.
Katureebe made the remarks in Entebbe while addressing Judges ,Magistrates and stakeholders during a two day engagement meeting between the Judiciary and the Commission of Inquiry into Land matters.
The meeting was organized under the theme: Beyond Land justice: Accountability and creative initiatives at Land dispute Resolution in Uganda.
Justice Katureebe, noted that currently the judiciary is undergoing a number of reforms to ensure effective administration of justice.
He said some of the challenges facing the judiciary include; corruption, lazy judicial officers and mishandling of court proceedings.
Katureebe revealed that currently there are 9,010 cases of land disputes at the High court Land division waiting to be handled by four judges and called on government to recruit more judges to help clear the backlog.
He however advised judges and magistrates to use the available resources to offer justice to parties involved in land disputes.
Justice Catherine Bamugemereire, the Chairperson of Land probe commission, told participants that during the 30 months of the her probe, the commission has received numerous complaints of corruption perpetuated by the area land committees, district land boards, Registrar of titles, brokers and middlemen.
Justice Damalie Lwanga informed participants that issues of land ownership and acquisition are extremely sensitive and have resulted into serious issues like murder, attempted murder and grievous harm.
Prof. Patrick Lumumba, who, was a keynote speaker, noted that land was the last colonial question and the reason why we have land disputes is due to colonial tendencies that disrupted the land ownership structure in Africa.
