The newly appointed Secretary to the judiciary Pius Bigirimana has officially taken over the office.
In a handing ceremony held today at the High court headquarters here in Kamapla, the outgoing Secretary to the judiciary Kagole Kivumbi said that he was grateful that he had been replaced with a person of good character whom he had had a chance of working with like in 2008 when Bigirimana was appointed permanent secretary to the office of the prime minister while he served as the director before he was appointed to the Judiciary and also in the judicial service commission were they were members.
He called upon the judiciary to welcome Bigirimana whole heartedly saying he is a good person since he has helped him in his career in the public service especially in his appointment as the Secretary to the judiciary.
He has also thanked the chief justice Bart Katureebe of being a good supervisor who always gave him a helping hand whenever needed and advised Bigrimana to also consult him in case of any advise among other senior judiciary top managers .
He has called upon Bigirimana to follow up on the remuneration of judicial officers, enactment of the Judiciary administration bill that is still hanging, allowances of judges and the construction of the supreme court and court of apparent that has been budgeted for at 20billion from the government of Uganda without donor funds.
He is also appealing to Bigirimana to spear head the enhancement of salaries of judges and the electronic court case information managing system which is now functioning in Luzira via video link which must be enrolled country-wide among others.
On the 26th of July 2019, president Museveni revealed Kagole of his duties with immediate effect and appointed Bigirimana who has been the permanent secretary in the ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development since 2013 after he was transferred from the office of the prime minister.
Kagole's forced exit followed various recent claims of him diverting funds allocated to the judiciary.
Meanwhile the incoming Secretary to the judiciary Pius Bigurimana has promised to start from were his predecessor has stopped and take the judiciary forward.
He has also called upon the public to have faith in him saying despite the judiciary being a new field to him and a third arm of government, he has experience to do the job given since its related to his other jobs he has been performing as permanent secretary in other ministries.
He also says that seeking advise from top judiciary managers is going to be easy since top mangers Like the chief justice Bart Katureebe has been his mentor.
Bigirimana has further revealed that in a few days he will be making proposals to the chief justice that he thinks will strengthen the judiciary management.
These include all judiciary employees working under a contract,construction of the court, health promotion through health learning and a Jim for judges to exercise and running for general judicial officers.
He has also promised to enforce accountability in the judiciary according to the government procedures so that when the auditor general raises any accountability issue, they will have evidence to prove it.
The chief justice Bart Katureebe has welcomed Bigirimana to the third arm of government and called upon him to push any on going investigations on the judiciary to be concluded quickly to allow them perform their work well.
He has also welcomed Bigirimana's accountability proposal which he says will go along way in protecting its image citing the judiciary failure to account for 400 million shillings on the alleged two toilets that were constructed at his home for his security which he said tarnished the image of the judiciary because there was no accountability for it.
He says that if Bigirimana is open and transparent, he will have no problems and advised him to always analyse any information given to him to avoid unnecessary mistakes that might affect the judiciary.
He has also called upon him to not be over taken by the constant criticism on the judiciary over its weaknesses saying the Judiciary is strong.
He also thanked the outgoing Secretary for a good work and all the improvement achieved during his term in office including officials getting their salaries in time among others.