BY Blessed Mhlanga / RICHARD MUPONDE / LORRAINE MUROMO
CHIEF JUSTICE Luke Malaba has said the fight against corruption is failing because those enthrusted with tackling the scourge were faint-hearted and did not have the spine to confront it headlong, resulting in withdrawal of cases and failure to secure convictions.
Speaking at the official opening of the judicial officers training workshop by Ugandan High Court judge in charge of the anti-corruption courts, Justice Lawrence Gidudu, Chief Justice Malaba yesterday said: “The reason why we are failing is that some of us are faint-hearted, corruption is not for faint-hearted people, I am sure the judge from Uganda will be emphasising that corruption is not a fight for faint hearted. It requires courage, seriousness, dedication to duty and those are personal attributes, they are not institutional attributes.”
He added: “Courage, seriousness and dedication to duty cannot be achieved at policy level. We can talk like I am talking and you still continue doing what you are doing. I can talk many times about policy, but as long as you, the person, has not transformed psychologically and have personally internalised these values, courage, commitment and dedication to duty, we are not going somewhere … We are very clear on that, but we are lacking the cadre, the fighter is letting us down everyday.”
Chief Justice Malaba said judicial officers should be adequately equipped with relevant skills to fight corruption, which he believes was affecting the well-being of the country. He said there was need for collective effort to fight corruption.
