The Judicial Service Commission (JSC) is in the process of replacing 23 judges that are soon retiring, including the Deputy Chief Justice Steven Kavuma.

In a letter written Monday and addressed to the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), the JSC says the resolution to fill the vacant positions was reached at their sixth meeting held on March 29, with the position of the head of the Court of Appeal and Constitutional Court falling vacant on September 29 this year.

The other positions to be filled include two in the Supreme Court, four in the Court of Appeal and sixteen in the High Court.

The Constitution requires a judge of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal, which also sits as the Constitutional Court, to retire at 70 years while a judge of the High Court retires on turning 65 years.

it is alleged that Justice Kavuma tried change his age just months to the end of his public legal career but the application was met with stiff resistance from both the public, the JSC and the Ministry of Public Service.

However, a family member told this Website that what is referred to as changing his age is a battle for his replacement within the Judiciary where some of his colleagues plotted on how to make it hard for him should he be considered for an extension of his stay as the number two in the judiciary.

Other judges set to retire are Augustine Nshimye Sebuturo , judge of the Supreme Court; Justice Akiiki-Kiiza (High Court), Justice Ezekiel Muhanguzi, (Judge of the International Crimes Division of the High Court), Justice Elizabeth Nahamya (International Crimes Division of the High Court) and Justice Jotham Tumwesigye of the Supreme Court.

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The health condition of Rose Muhinza, the lady who was rushed to hospital in critical condition after a UMEME transformer crashed her car has greatly improved.

Taking a look at the car along Dewinton Road in which Ms Muhinga was driving at the time of the nasty accident, few believed the occupant of the car was still alive.

Even those at the scene who had witnessed her being removed from the wreckage of the car were worried she would not make it to hospital.

Luckily, she made it despite having been taken when she was in a coma. We have since learnt that her condition has drastically improved and that she can now even speak.

Electricity distribution company Umeme linked the accident to vandalism. “Preliminary investigations indicate that the network may have been interfered with, causing the transformer structure to fall onto the vehicle. Comprehensive investigations are still underway to establish the actual cause of this unusual occurrence,” Umeme said in a statement.

Muhinza’s son Richard Kigozi, who rushed to the scene following the accident, said his mother had left him at the nearby Walusimbi’s Garage, only to learn minutes later that she was involved in an accident.

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The Inspector General of Government (IGG) has said that labour state minister Herbert Kabafunzaki is still a member of cabinet unless the appointing authority, President Yoweri Museveni, thinks otherwise.

Justice Mulyagonja, who was responding to a query as to whether her office can order the minister Kabafunzaki to step aside pending the resolution of a bribery case against him said the minister was a political leader and ‘not a public servant’.

“They (political appointees and public servants) are not bound by the same regulations,” she said in an interview earlier today, adding that the condition for one to step aside to pave the way for investigations only applies to civil servants.

Minister Kabafunzaki was earlier today granted a cash and non-cash bail of Shs50 million, respectively, by the anti-corruption court chief magistrate Agnes Alum.

This followed Kabafunzaki’s arrest on Saturday for allegedly soliciting a Shs30 million bribe from AYA Group Chairman Muhammad Hamid.

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The State Minister for Labour Herbert Kabafunzaki has been granted bail by anti-corruption court chief magistrate Agnes Alum.

Kabafunzaki, who appeared before the same court yesterday, was charged with corruption, which he denied. This follows his arrest on Saturday for allegedly soliciting a Shs5 million bribe from AYA Group Chairman Muhammad Hamid.

But through his lawyer Kenneth Muhangi, the Minister was granted cash bail of 50 million and a non-cash bail of an equal amount.

He is also required to report to court every week and handed in his Diplomatic Passport and a land title.

His co-accused, Brian Mugabo pleaded guilty and was charged with corruption and for soliciting Shs15m to ‘kill’ the case against Hamid.

Mugabo admitted hiding Shs5m which had been ‘accepted’ by Minister Kabafunzaki, and added that ‘everything stated by prosecution is true’.

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In the wake of the arrest of Minister Herbert Kabafunzaki for allegedly taking a bribe, a senior cabinet colleague has come out to condemn the vice.

Last Saturday Labour State Minister Kabafunzaki was arrested by police and officers from the Special Forces Command (SFC) for allegedly taking a Shs5m bribe from the Aya Group Managing Director Muhammad Aya, to reportedly forestall sexual harassment allegations made against him.

And speaking at the opening ceremony of the Uganda Debt Network debate at Hotel Africana, Finance Minister Matia Kasaija said culpability for bribery is a shared vice.

“We are public servants, we ministers are shepherds, why do you bribe us, if you are duly qualified use the right way, the right way is not through bribery,” minister Kasaija said, adding: “the blame is shared by both the one giving and the other taking the bribe.

The Minister also wondered how youthful and junior public servants were quickly amassing wealth.

“I have never earned a billion shillings in the government yet this is my third time being a minister; where do those youth get all the money to construct houses worth billions,” Kasaija wondered.

Turning to government borrowing, the minister said the public debt currently stands at about 38 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

He called for better understanding and appreciation of government policies by public sector employees, saying most government undertakings including remuneration are actualized.

“The issue of concern should be how much are we borrowing, and what the borrowed money does,” he said, adding: “I usually advise my fellow public servants that let us be patient, if we work hard and expand the growth and development rates the issue of salary increment will also be considered.”

The Minister also said that two trillion shillings, about 14 per cent of the GDP, will be used to service the domestic debt in the next financial year.

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