MPs meet Odoki over safe houses
By Ssemujju Ibrahim Nganda
Members of Parliament have met with Chief Justice Benjamin Odoki over safe houses, and the general human rights situation in the country. The meeting took place yesterday in the High Court Library in Kampala. Deputy Chief Justice Laetitia Kikonyogo, Principal Judge Herbert Ntabgoba and Chief Registrar Steven Musota attended the meeting.
The MPs who sit on the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs committee were led by their chairman Adolf Mwesige. Mwesige said the meeting discussed illegal detentions and detention centres such as safe houses in the country. �Judges have powers to visit detention centres,� Mwesige said. He said the heads of the judiciary are aware of this responsibility but are constrained because of shortage of manpower. He said there are only 20 judges out of the required 50.
Odoki and his team told MPs that each one of Uganda�s 56 districts should have a chief magistrate but there are only 29 of them for the whole country.
On alleged corruption in the judiciary, Odoki said he would investigate the matter and try the culprits. The MPs asked the judiciary to brief them about their differences with the executive, given President Yoweri Museveni�s repeated public denunciation of judicial institutions as corrupt and the judges� displeasure with the accusations. Odoki and his team said they have no conclusive statement on the subject. MPs advised Odoki to meet with the president to solve differences. The committee promised to advocate for the recruitment of more judges and magistrates.
Monitor October 23, 2002 23:58:06
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