City court under probe over massive extortion

Former FDC president Kizza Besigye (C) emerges with his supporters from Kasangati Court soon after a hearing of one his cases. The court is a subject of investigation following reports of institutionalised corruption. 

By IVAN OKUDA

In Summary

The court is severally accused of ills bordering on injustice, extortion and outright corruption.

Kampala

Kasangati Magistrate’s Court is under investigation following numerous complaints that the court officials demand bribes and extort money from suspects in order to handle their cases. This has been confirmed by Principal Judge Yorokamu Bamwine who told this newspaper: “I have seen a report by the Inspector of Courts pointing out some irregularities in the court, action is being taken and you will see serious changes soon.”

Opposition politicians have been regularly prosecuted in the Kasangati court with Dr Kizza Besigye being one of the most notable regulars there. When the Sunday Monitor visited the single-structure court on Kasangati-Gayaza Road, the compound was busting with elderly men and women seeking justice. An eavesdrop into their conversations reveal remarks of “this magistrate is unfair, she is not serious. Court starts at 9am but by midday she is doing her own things.”

Witnesses turned away
Some witnesses had come from as far as Iganga District but were turned away because court had not sat. The court officials were meeting with senior district officials, police and prisons staff.

One of the disgruntled litigants was former Makindye MP Michael Mabikke, who vainly waited for the court until his patience ran out and he drove away in frustration. “The court’s clerks and magistrates are named in a number of irregularities including extorting money from suspects and swindling their bail refund,’ says Ms Cissy Kagaba, the executive director of a local NGO, Anti-Corruption Coalition Uganda (ACCU), which carried out an investigation into the court’s activities.

The ACCU report, for instance, points out scenarios where the court’s clerical officer (name withheld for legal reasons), who also doubles as supervisor, “signs agreements with suspects compelling them to pledged that they will give her commission of 15 per cent if the case is ruled in their favour.”

Documents
One of the documents seen by the Sunday Monitor dated September 26, 2012, reads: “In appreciation of your encouragement and above all the advice you have given me since I registered my case (civil suit no. 35 of 2012) with this court, I vow to give you 15 per cent of what I will be compensated by the defendants.”


The letter is signed by the supervisor as ‘promisee’ and written by Steven Okot as the ‘promisor’ continues: “I declare that what I have stated above is derived right from the bottom of my heart and that nobody has forced me to do so”.

Court official speak out
Asked to comment on this agreement, a visibly shaken court clerk retorted: “It is not me, Mr Press. I don’t do those things in the name of Jesus. I am here to serve the Judiciary diligently and not to take commission because I am even paid a salary.”

A Grade One magistrate reportedly witnessed the agreement. When the Sunday Monitor presented the agreement to the court clerk, she said: “This is not my signature. I don’t sign like that, may be it was forged. I totally deny it. Those are dubious people using my name Mr Press.” ACCU, however, insists in its report there are more agreements, some with video and audio recordings, of the agreement signing.

Mr Daniel Salongo Luyombya, a resident of Kasangati, testifies in the report: “We have a problem with Kasangati court, the irregularities have become the formal way of work. One time (in 2010) I was taken to court by a landlord, I got bail and was sentenced to 120 hours of community work. After that, I was refunded the bail (Shs200,000) by the magistrate from her pocket without a receipt.” The report states that those who get their bail refund at the court are lucky.

Intervention
On December 6, 2013, the Inspector of Courts Margaret Mutonyi wrote to Kasangati Grade One Magistrate demanding an explanation why no action had been taken against the court clerk for her alleged misconduct. “You undertook to pay back bail money which was allegedly received by [the clerk] and not receipted. If it be true, [her] conduct is criminal as it amounts to abuse of office. This is to demand from you an explanation as to why [she] has not been forwarded for disciplinary action. She should be asked to refund Milton Nsambu’s money within 14 days or else the matter be referred to police for investigation,” Mutonyi wrote.

On the day this newspaper visited the court, residents were openly persuading the magistrates and clerks in corridors to complete their part of the bail refund. At one point a man publicly castigated the magistrate for “driving an expensive car yet you cannot pay back my bail money.”

None-cash bail turns into cash bail

Residents who have had cases at the court told this newspaper that often times, the judicial officers exploit their illiteracy and ignorance using legal technicalities. “These days the magistrates just use letters NC to mean “Not Cash” bail but write cash bail in full. If you have to pay Shs200,000 as cash bail, the Shs500,000 is indicated NC and the clerks make you pay for that as well,” says Mr Luyombya.

Bail refund lost
In a petition received and signed by the Judicial Service Commission, Mathias Katimbo, a whistleblower, says many litigants had lost their bail refund at the court. “In April 2013, Fred Sevuma lost Shs300,000, Mathias Musaazi was fleeced of Shs400,000 and another person lost Shs1,000,000, none of them was told the meaning of NC and were duped to think it was cash bail,” Mr Katimbo testified during the ACCU investigation.