“If there was political will, corruption would go,” he said. “Do it the China way; be stern. In China you cannot simply joke with public money. Never! They shoot you.” Justice John Bosco Katutsi (retired) 

Uganda’s corrupt should be executed the way China does, the former head of the Anti-Corruption Court has suggested.
Justice John Bosco Katutsi also faulted President Museveni for leading an administration that has exhibited little willpower to fight the vice despite repeated rhetoric of zero tolerance.
In an exclusive interview with Sunday Monitor, Justice Katutsi, who retired from the bench in March after 38 illustrious years of service, said it hurts to see individuals who have dipped their hands in the public till “swimming in ill-gotten wealth” yet teachers in the country barely make ends meet.
“If there was political will, corruption would go,” he said. “Do it the China way; be stern. In China you cannot simply joke with public money. Never! They shoot you.”
The retired judge said despite the existence of an elaborative legal system to fight graft, shielding of “criminals” by powerful people in government was responsible for sustaining the vice.
Katutsi stance at bench
During his three years at the helm as the first head of the Anti-Corruption Court, Justice Katutsi oversaw the conviction and sentencing of former NSSF boss Chandi Jamwa and former ISO operative Teddy Ssezi Cheeye on corruption charges, two cases he cites in the interview to charge government for “selective persecution.”
Justice Katutsi wondered why individuals such as Dr Tiberius Muhebwa, the former coordinator of the Project Management Unit of the multi-billion shillings corruption-rocked Global Fund “has never ever been before the courts and yet all witnesses were talking about him as being the man who was behind all this thug.”
He also cited the controversial NSSF-Temangalo land deal where current Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi was accused of influence peddling in selling his land to the fund but got away with it.
In the wide ranging interview, the retired judge speaks about some of his most memorable cases, acquitting FDC leader Kizza Besigye of rape charges, working as a shamba boy, his thoughts on the Mabira give-away and plans to scrap bail for certain offenses. See Full interview
egyezaho@ug.nationmedia.com

By EMMANUEL GYEZAHO