Busingye warns judges on corruption

The president of the Kigali based High Court, Johnson Busingye ,has warned judges against soliciting for bribes in order to dispense justice. Speaking to The Sunday Times yesterday, Busingye said that this was in response to the public’s perception that the judiciary is corrupt. “Corruption in the judiciary is the worst thing that can happen anywhere. I would not commit myself and say where there is or no corruption in the judiciary where about 600 people are working. However, if he/she is caught, there would be no chance to escape the hand of the law,” Busingye said. “We want to see judgment that reflects intellectualism, research, impartiality, independence and integrity.” Commenting on his countrywide tour of various courts, which he completed on Friday, Busingye noted that more efforts were still needed to achieve justice. “Since 2004, when the reforms began, we have been working on building a better brand. We need to hold a positive image to the public we serve, and the leadership to be accountable to the people they lead,” he said. Busingye said the judiciary has closed lots of gaps that were putting the judicial system at stake, like weak leadership, low esteem, delays and lack of use of ICT. About 30 judges from the European Community are in the country helping to reduce backlog of cases. Among the challenges he found on the field include; court accountants who don’t plan early ending up not using money allocated to them yet there are problems that need to be solved. He said some courts had leaking roofs, lacked furniture and had few computers which could be covered by the money returned to the government coffers. Ends