Taxpayers to cough another Shs 11bn per year

By Edris Kiggundu
WEEKLY OBSERVER

Ugandan taxpayers will have to fork out an extra Shs 11bn per year to maintain the newly appointed judges, the Chief Justice, Justice Benjamin Odoki revealed at their swearing-in ceremony at State House Entebbe last week.

Odoki, who has been a judge for the last 30 years, said the money is meant to cater for the judges’ ‘tools’ as well as afford them a decent life so as to enable them work efficiently and buffer them from the lure of bribes.
The tools include their salaries, money for their vehicles, to cater for their security, and salaries for their respective secretaries and clerks.
The figure also includes office furniture, a clerk for each judge, and office space.

According to the new salary structure of the judiciary, the Chief Justice now earns a basic monthly salary of Shs 5.8 million, up from Shs 3.3 million a year ago. His deputy, Laetitia Kikonyogo, now earns Shs 5.3 million, up from Shs 3 million, while the Principal Judge, James Ogoola, takes home Shs 5 million.

Supreme Court judges now earn Shs 4.9 million, up from Shs 2.8 million; Court of Appeal judges get Shs 4.7 million, up from Shs 2.6 million, while a High Court judge’s salary is now Shs 4.5 million, as opposed to Shs 2.5 million he/she earned a year ago.
As the judiciary gets new members, the third arm of the state will have to deal with the perception that it is one of Uganda’s most corrupt institutions, as reported by the Inspector General of Government (IGG), Faith Mwondha recently.

Mwonda, addressing participants during the Annual Judges Conference in Kampala last week, revealed that one of their surveys had found that incidences of bribery were most common within the Police Force and the Judiciary.

“The highest amounts of bribes were for contacts with the Judiciary,” Mwondha said.
Faced with a huge backlog of cases, the judiciary has for long demanded that the President appoint more judges.

According to the 2008/2009 National Budget Framework Paper, a blue print of the national budget, there were 136,448 pending cases before various courts as of April 2007.
Odoki sounded confident that the new judges would help clear part of the backlog.

“Now I have judges to deploy. Let me hope they will handle the many outstanding cases,” he said.

Judges must ‘think’

Meanwhile, presiding over a ceremony during which the judges were sworn in, President Museveni implored them to dwell less on procedure and more on substance if they are to deliver justice to the people.

Museveni said a number of cases had been frustrated by procedural matters––prompting people to take the law into their hands.
“That is why mob justice is on the increase because people have lost confidence in the judicial process,” Museveni argued.

He told the judges to interpret the laws in favour of the people, but do so within the boundaries of the Constitution.
Throughout the three-hour ceremony, Museveni appeared cordial and warm towards the judges–– belying the often cold relationship over the years.
However, only 13 out of the 16 nominated judges were sworn in. The other three appointees; Zam Zam Nagujja, Alex Nkonge and Musalu Musene were absent. Nagujja and Musalu Musene are yet to be approved by Parliament’s Appointments Committee.

ekiggundu@ugandaobserver.com