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A whistleblower has raised alarm over what they describe as alleged nepotism, irregular recruitment, and misuse of public funds within the Judicial Service Commission (JSC).
In a confidential letter seen by this publication, the anonymous source claims that certain officials at the JSC “abused their authority and manipulated recruitment processes” during the 2023/2024 financial year.
The saga rotates around the recruitment of Lorna Nkamwesiga as a Legal Officer.
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It is alleged that she is a relative (niece) to Johnson Bitarabeho who is a member of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) in Uganda, representing the Public Service Commission. He is also a member of the Disciplinary Committee and also Search and Recruitment Committee within the JSC.
The whistleblower bases on this relation to speculate he could have influenced her recruitment, an allegation we could not independently verify.
This is the same Lorna Nkamwesiga whose name has been cited in land fraud involving embattled land broker Hajji Muhammad Kamoga of Kamoga Property Consultants.
Kamoga is accused of forging the practicing certificate, stamp, and signature of Lorna Nkamwesiga, allegedly enabling him to fraudulently acquire 200 acres of land in Garuga, Entebbe.
The charges against him include: Nine counts of forgery, three counts of uttering false documents and two counts of obtaining registration by false pretence.
A warrant of arrest has since been issued against him by The Entebbe Grade One Magistrate, Edgar Tibayeita Tusiime.
Nkamwesiga’s name has also been cited in many other scandals as we shall reveal in our subsequent publication.
BACK TO HER RECRUITMENT
The whistleblower alleges that prior to her recruitment at JSC, several complaints including one from the Uganda Police Force were lodged with the JSC highlighting that Lorna Nkamwesiga’s Uganda Law Society identification card was involved in several land scams over years and they should put her recruitment on hold and not submit her CV to Public Service.
This advice was allegedly ignored.
“We sent several complaints to the IGG to investigate this matter thoroughly. We petitioned JSC not to recruit her last year because her name was involved in several land scams with businessman Kamoga. To our shock the people at IGG went ahead and informed our superiors who later on kept threatening us to be silent over the matter of Ms. Lorna Nkamwesiga,” alleges the whistleblower, adding that even Uganda Police raised the same flag.
Lorna has been contacted for a comment.
ROT AT JSC
The letter also calls for a deeper audit into the JSC’s Education and Public Affairs Department, claiming there could be financial irregularities in the implementation of government-funded judicial education programs.
According to the whistleblower, “some of the reports and attendance lists for activities conducted between January and March 2024 may contain discrepancies that require verification.”
“You should investigate all the reports from January 2024 regarding JSC education and public affairs because all those reports, telephone numbers and signatures of attendance are fake, they don’t exist. The people who attended those seminars never received the refund money and these are billions over a long period of time,” the whistleblower stresses, citing complaints since March 2024 where majority of the drivers allegedly complained about misuse of government funds by requisitioning money for non-existence activities.
The whistleblower is asking anti-corruption bodies to “scrutinize expenditure reports” at JSC and ensure accountability in the use of public resources.
The Judicial Service Commission had not issued an official response by press time.
However, sources within the JSC — who requested anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the press — said the Commission “takes any claims of misconduct seriously” and that “all recruitment processes follow established procedures.”
Previous Oversight
The JSC, which oversees the appointment and discipline of judicial officers, has in recent years come under scrutiny from Parliament and civil society groups over recruitment transparency and workload management.
Watch this Space!
