The Judiciary has appointed a new magistrate for Lyantonde Court after weeks of closure following the arrest of Grade Two magistrate Steven Karakiire for allegedly soliciting bribes.
The Judiciary has appointed a new magistrate for Lyantonde Court after weeks of closure following the arrest of Grade Two magistrate Steven Karakiire for allegedly soliciting bribes.
Karakiire was arrested on November 18th by detectives attached to the Inspectorate of Government after he reportedly received a bribe of one million shillings.
Sarah Mponye, the Masaka Chief magistrate appointed and deployed Fortunate Kamukama to handle the case backlog in Lyantonde.
On Friday, Kamukama resumed work ending weeks of uncertainty. The new magistrate started straight away to hear more than 20 cases that have been pending since Karakiire’s arrest.
William Mukirane, the officer in Charge of Lyantonde police commended the work adding that this will help the police produce in court the suspects who have been in police custody longer than necessary.
Mukirane says that police has been facing a problem of detaining suspected criminals beyond 48 hours because of lack of a Magistrate to hear their bail application.
Karakiire's arrest paralysed court activities in the area forcing the Uganda Human Rights Commission on Wednesday to order the Judiciary to immediately appoint a new magistrate in Lyantonde to deal with stranded suspects in the district.
More than 100 suspects were left stranded in police cells without access to justice. Those affected included 20 criminal suspects detained at Lyantonde central police on defilement, armed robbery and murder charges respectively.
Over 80 other suspects on remand were also stranded at Kabula and Lyantonde prisons without access to justice.
Fahad Jjingo
Freelancer