{UAH} Bigirimana’s Anti-Corruption Drive Unsettles Judicial Officials

Bigirimana's Anti-Corruption Drive Unsettles Judicial Officials

 Sam Waswa  October 23, 2019

 1 minute read

 Last month, Mr Bigirimana (C) traveled to Armenia to start the procurement process of the Electronic Court Case Management Information System (ECMIS). Pictured here is President & CEO of Synergy International Systems – Dr. Ashot Hovanesian leading a guided tour of the Synergy Facility in Yerevan Armenia

Uganda Judicial Officers Association (UJOA), an association of judicial officers in the country have rushed to the Kampala High Court seeking to remove the Judiciary Permanent Secretary, Mr Pius Bigirimana from office on grounds that his office is non-existent in the judiciary.

These argue that the Judiciary is not a ministry or a government department, but an arm of government which cannot have a permanent secretary.

Bigirimana's July appointment as PS by President Yoweri Museveni, they say, is "illegal, ultra vires, irrational and is jeopardizing the independence of the Judiciary."

It is however, worth noting that Mr Bigirimana is neither the first not second Permanent Secretary to the judiciary.

"If I remember well the Judiciary has had Permanent Secretaries for the last 20 years or so," said the Judiciary spokesman Mr Solomon Muyita in an interview with this website.

"The Judiciary is an arm of government of its own, but the President appoints a PS there to act as the accounting officer. That is because the other people (judicial officers) are not trained in that area," Muyita says.

On whether or not the presidential appointment interferes with the constitutional separation of powers principle, Mr Muyita says most of the officers in the Judiciary are already appointed by the Executive.

"As of now, all the support staff of the judiciary, all the clerks, the secretaries and administration staff are deployed there by the Ministry of Public Service."

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On Linkedin: Peter-Rhaina Gwokto (La'Kitgum)

"Even a small dog can piss on a tall building", Jim Hightower

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