The Ministry of Justice has revoked the practice licenses of six professional court bailiffs over malpractices, according to a ministerial order signed off by Justice Minister and Attorney General, Johnston Busingye. The dismissal, according to the order, took immediate effect. The dismissed bailiffs were identified as Febronie Ayinkamiye, Epimaque Mutesa, Juvenal Nyirimbibi, Alexis Mutunzi, David Roger Sebahire, and Michel Muhire. In a subsequent interview, Minister Busingye told The New Times that the suspension came into effect following the failure of the six bailiffs to comply with the guidelines and rules governing their profession. “The suspension follows several allegations from people they served on different matters. Mainly, they were involved in graft, conspiracy, poor documentation and archiving of auctioning minutes, selling property at a price lower than the real value among others,” said Busingye. Previous reports have indicated that some bailiffs collude with some fictitious bidders to devalue property during public auctions and it has once been stated that they some-times collude with bank employees in the auctioning Busingye added that for at least five months, the ministry conducted investigations on allegations and later on they were found guilty. “The gravity of their offenses were compatible with suspension,” said Min. Busingye. The suspension is in line with article 44 of the organic law governing professional court bailiffs. The article states; “for emergency purposes, the Minister for Justice may in the interest of work, suspend a professional bailiff from his/her duties until the final decision is taken for the alleged faults against him/her.” It is the second time court bailiffs are being sanctioned by the ministry. In October of 2015, 15 bailiffs were suspended by the ministry over similar allegations. Professional court bailiffs were introduced in 2011 to execute court judgments, as part of the reforms that started in 2014 to ease access to justice in the country. Besides professional bailiffs, other non-professional ones mandated to execute rulings include local leaders, mainly at the cell level.
