A total of 88 acting Grade One Magistrates on Monday started a two-week induction training held by the Judicial Training Institute (JTI) at Colline Hotel Mukono.
Magistrate Musa Ammaari Ssemogerere who was on July 26, arrested at Lira Law Development Centre (LDC) after sneaking into the examination hall to sit for her girlfriend’s exams would be one of them.
Unfortunately, according to the Supreme Court Judge, Justice Michael Chibita, Ammaari is somewhere with the law enforcers for having behaved otherwise after his appointment.
Chibita who also doubles as the chairperson of the JTI governing council said the judicial officers are expected to work hard proficiently and with high integrity.
“Integrity is the bedrock of the administration of justice, the justice seekers need honesty and trusted judicial officers. There is no room for lack of integrity or laziness in the judiciary,” Chibita said.
Ammaari was arrested on Wednesday (July 26) at the Lira LDC for sneaking into the Law Development Centre and sitting an exam for his alleged girlfriend Irene Mutonyi, a student at the institute.
Ammaari reportedly appeared before the Lira Grade One Magistrate’s Court on three counts of impersonation, forgery and uttering a false document.
What made the scandal so shocking was the fact that the impersonator (Ammaari) was among the 87 magistrates who were appointed by the Judicial Service Commission just recently (on July 13).
The official opening of the two-week acting Grade One Magistrates’ induction on Monday was done by the Deputy Chief Justice, Richard Buteera who also warned the newly sworn-in and deployed acting Grade One Magistrates from disrespecting their respective Chief Magistrates in their respective areas of jurisdiction.
Buteera said that on top of being corrupt free, good time managers, respecting court property, their junior staff and court litigants, the judicial officers are always supposed to be polite before their superiors.
He said that he emphasized this point of being polite and respectful because in practice, some Grade One Magistrates say: “I am equally a lawyer, I have a Masters in Law but the Chief Magistrate doesn’t”, making them to behave otherwise.”
He has given a reference, in Luweero district where a Magistrate Grade One handled a case, and after the plaintiff had given his plaint, the magistrate gave his judgement without even giving the defendant time to file his defence.
“Upon getting the complaint, the Chief Magistrate called for the file; something which prompted the Grade One Magistrate to say that the Chief Magistrate was interfering with the independency of the Judiciary! Saying he was a Judicial Officer and he was not expecting to be interfered with. No wonder, I met that same officer six years later charged in the Judicial Service Commission for similar circumstances this time faced with another Chief Magistrate,” he narrated.
He warned: “Learn this early that you don’t have too much power. However much you have your independency, but take correct judicial decisions, you are not independent to mess us up.”
He also added that though they are supposed to be supervised, they also have the powers to supervise the staff under them.
“Those too deserve to be treated fairly as you also want to be treated objectively. Have courtesy and treat the people you work, with courtesy. Always learn that your juniors expect justice from you,” he emphasized.
On what they are supposed to do at their duty stations, Buteera asked them to always have a prior plan of what they are supposed to do, have an annual work plan, send files that need confirmation by the High Court, make returns to their Chief Magistrates and Chief Registrars among others. He also advised them to make regular consultations from their superiors and those who supervise them.
“Be good examples to your own peers and to the public that you serve. Right from the beginning, avoid all forms of indiscipline, such as corruption, absenteeism, late coming, leaving your work duties early before the official time, laxity in management of court registry archives, respecting court property and many others,” he said.
Justice Damalie Lwanga, the head of the Judicial Training Institute said that though these magistrates are supposed to first undergo this induction training, they were instead already deployed and reported to their different duty stations following a number of unavoidable reasons.