On Friday 20 July 2018, Minister of Justice and Attorney General Busingye Johnston opened the Professional Bailiff Association General Assembly at Nobleza Hotel. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss on how to improve Professional Bailiffs’ ethical behaviour and code of conduct.

During the meeting, Minister Busingye thank Bailiffs  who do their work according to the rules of the profession as they always give value to their profession and play their role in delivery of justice. On the other hand, he warned professional bailiffs who do not take their profession seriously, those who do not take into consideration the fact that they do their profession on behalf of the Government that the time has come to get rid of them. He urged them to deliver good services to the citizens instead of contributing towards their injustice. He added that some activities leading to misconduct of Professional Bailiffs include deliberate underestimation of properties’ value during public auctions, confiscating money from the auction etc… “Please give public auction the value it deserves, give public auction the justice it deserves, treat public auctions with integrity as the one attached  to the court case being processed  because it is one way of executing court’s decisions” Minister Busingye added.

Minister Busingye advised Professional Bailiffs to keep away from so-called “Commissioners” who aim at deliberately underestimating the value of peoples’ property to the benefits of their colleagues. “Those calling themselves commissioners are groups of traitors who get paid for underestimating peoples’ properties during public auction to the interest of undeserved buyers. Please keep away from them as much as possible as their profession differs from yours. Remember the oath you took before starting your profession” He emphasised!

He concluded by requesting them  to observe good culture of integrity, professionalism and keep in mind that people whom they execute cases do not  have the knowledge and skills they have, hence bailiffs have to explain what their profession entails.

The general assembly for professional Bailiffs was called after few days that Minister of Justice and Attorney General has dismissed permanently six professional Bailiffs due to serious professional misconduct.

<link file:1773 download file>Click here to read the full speech by the Minister of Justice/Attorney General during the opening of Professional Association’s General assembly.