KAMPALA – The Judiciary has cautioned the four Law Development Centre (LDC) students who appeared in a video clip dancing to a popular local tune, while on duty. They recorded the video at the Commercial Division of the High Court premises in Kampala.
Clad in their professional suits, the law students on a four-month Clerkship programme with the Court, recorded themselves dancing on Monday (January 4) at about 10 am.
The video later made its way to Social Media.
“To the Court, this was unprofessional and unethical conduct and an abuse of the integrity of Judiciary as a whole,” said Commercial Court’s Judge, Anne Mugenyi Bitature, who summoned and met the four students over the video on Tuesday. She “seriously reprimanded” the interns.
Ms Kakidi Ann, Ms Nabirye Zeridah Mary and Ms Kalungi Kellen are part of the 18 LDC
students on Clerkship at the Commercial Court (December 2020 – April 2021), while Ms Katusiime Pearl, the fourth student, is also on Clerkship with a private City law firm. She participated in the dance video while on a visit to her colleagues.
“…there is no excuse for such kind of bad behaviour…I apologize for my conduct and promise that it will not happen again,” each of the students’ apology letters read, in part.
Justice Bitature, who noted that the students were on their own frolic, said she cautioned them after they accepted their “unprofessional conduct and apologized for their actions in writing and promised never to repeat the same misconduct”.
“I am however aware that LDC Management has undertaken to handle the issue within the confines of its internal disciplinary procedures. The Director of LDC came to me
earlier today (Wednesday ), to get facts on what exactly happened.
“He said the students will be subjected to disciplinary process later today (Wednesday), and we (the Judiciary) shall await the decision to be communicated to us,” she said.
