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Uganda: Anti-Graft Court Starts Work This Month
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The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)
3 July 2008
Posted to the web 3 July 2008
Rodney Muhumuza
The proposed anti-corruption division of the High Court will begin business this month, Principal Judge James Ogoola said yesterday, announcing a landmark development that was first suggested towards the end of 2007.
The special anti-graft court is to be headed by Justice John Bosco Katusi, the High Court judge is best known as the man who acquitted FDC leader Kizza Besigye of rape in 2006.
Justice Katusi, who endured a lot of pressure during the much-publicised Besigye rape trial, has been transferred from Mbale, where he was a resident judge.
In naming Justice Katusi and his deputy, Justice Paul Mugamba, to their new roles, Justice Ogoola said he had chosen integrity and courage above everything else. "These two are some of the most stellar," Justice Ogoola told reporters yesterday at his High Court office. "In these two I have the best These are judges who have the backbone, who will stand up to the storm."
A functional anti-corruption court in Uganda would give the government more than just bragging rights in the war on corruption, considering that it has come under heavy criticism for not doing enough to make corruption prohibitive.
Justice Ogoola said there were still practical issues to be solved before the court can start normal business.
The court, for example, has yet to recruit administrative staff and acquire all the necessary materials and equipment. And there will have to be amendments to the existing anti-corruption laws if the court is to be effective, Justice Ogoola said.
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The anti-corruption group will have a lower division where at least two magistrates will try suspects, Justice Ogoola said, even though most of the urgent work will focus on conducting a census of pending cases.
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