Many people want to work with Judiciary, say Justice Kabiito

 Judicial jobs are attracting huge numbers of applicants, the chairperson of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), Justice Benjamin Kabiito, has said.

The chairperson of the government’s recruitment and disciplinary body of judicial officers attributed the rush for the Judiciary jobs to the enhanced terms and conditions of service, making judicial officers among some of the most highly paid government workers.

“Talking about the privileged position of judicial officers, let me give you information, when we put out an advert for about 28 Grade One Magistrates, we received 1,078 applicants, this shows that the Judiciary is now an attractive destination,” Justice Kabiito said last Thursday while meeting judicial officers of Hoima High Court.

Demand for jobs

The chairperson of the JSC added: “When we had declarations for 11 Chief Magistrates, we received 288 applications, again, that shows you that the Judiciary is an attractive employment destination. For High Court, for 12 vacancies declared, we received 248 applications and for 100 court clerk positions, we received over 1,000 applications.”

To that effect, Justice Kabiito has urged judicial officers who are already in employment, to work diligently and ethically since there are many people out there scrambling to get into the positions that they are currently holding.

“What does this mean for judicial officers, that they should hold their positions dearly because there are many people trying to get where you are and they feel if they get where you are, they will hold those positions very carefully,” he advised.

Justice Kabiito added: “This is because with the Judiciary now, their terms and conditions of service, security tenure, and career progression are good. So while you do your judicial work, be mindful of the norms and aspirations of the people because if you don’t, disciplinary processes will catch up with you and you will be ejected. Many people are coming to us asking how they can get into the Judiciary.”

SALARY STRUCTURE

According to the salary structure for judicial officers for FY2022/2023 magistrates, including the chief magistrates, earn between Shs3m and Shs9.8m per month. Assistant Registrars and chief registrars earn between Shs10.5m and Shs20m per month while High Court judges earn more than Shs23m, Court of Appeal/ Constitutional Court judges earn more than Shs24m, Supreme Court justices earn more than Shs25m. The head of the Judiciary, who is the Chief Justice