Justine Muboka
11 November 2009
A probe committee that was set up to investigate allegations of extortion by Local Council courts in Gulu District has failed to start work due to lack of money.
The five-man committee was set up in August by Gulu District Council to investigate allegations that courts ask for exorbitant fees to hear land cases. Mr David Opwonya, the focal person on local council courts in Gulu, says the committee needs Shs4 million to carry out the investigations. "Funds are not yet available for the work to start but efforts are being made to find the money," Mr Opwonya said.
Under the law, the courts can charge complainants an amount not exceeding Shs3500. But Gulu speaker Martin Ojara Mapenduzi says he has received complaints from the community that the courts charge over Shs50, 000 to hear the land cases. "In Boli-ipii village in Awach Sub County, a man lost a case to another because he could not afford the Shs50, 000, his opponent paid and won the case," Mr Ojara said.
Abuse of office
He described the acts of the court officials as abuse of office which will not be condoned. "Once the district gets the money, we want this investigation to be done to save the people who go to these courts," Mr Ojara said. Communities who do not have land titles remain at the mercy of local council courts because they are mandated by law to handle such cases before the formal courts of law can intervene.
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