The Judiciary is holding over Shs54.4 billion in unclaimed bail fees and security deposits belonging to suspects, lawmakers on Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) have revealed.
The matter emerged on Wednesday March 4 during a meeting between PAC and the Judiciary to review the 2024/25 Auditor General’s report.
According to committee findings, the Judiciary had accumulated Shs55.8 billion in unclaimed bail fees and security deposits from previous years at the start of the financial year.
During 2024/25, Shs16.15 billion was collected in fresh bail payments, while only Shs17.56 billion was refunded — leaving more than Shs54 billion still in court accounts.
Xavier Kyooma the Ibanda North MP said the funds clearly belong to citizens.
“I can inform this committee that at the beginning of the financial year, it was Shs55.8Bn, meaning that Judiciary had it, and it belonged to the claimants,” Kyooma said.
“So, I wanted to be sure that this is the amount that we are talking about, the Shs54Bn that belongs to people, but it is within the hands of Judiciary, and it is not little money.”
PAC Vice Chairperson Gorreth Namugga (Mawogola North) described the situation as a systemic failure and questioned why refunds are not automated.
“For you, when you look into your record and having this total Shs54.4Bn as people’s money, what comes to your mind? Automatically, that shows that there is a problem. Something must be solved,” Namugga said.
“In this era of technology, really, how can we be this manual? It is an embarrassment.”
Beyond the unclaimed funds, MPs also raised concern about what they described as excessively high bail fees imposed on ordinary Ugandans.
Namugga questioned whether bail was being used as punishment rather than a safeguard.
“Is bail a punishment?” she asked, citing a case in Ssembabule where a suspect was asked to pay Shs1 million cash bail.
“To the public, it has looked as if bail is a punishment.”
Patrick Nsamba (Kassanda North) argued that judicial officers must consider the economic realities of accused persons when exercising discretion.
“You look at this person before you in Ssembabule, and you are saying I have given you pay cash Shs1Million, even if the entire clan came together, they would not be able to raise the Shs1Million,” he said.
However, Acting Chief Registrar Pamela Lamunu defended the Judiciary, saying bail is not a punishment but a balance between personal liberty and the interests of justice.
“Bail is not a punishment. Every accused person has the right to apply for bail and it is at the discretion of the judicial officer to determine whether to release that person and whether to grant cash or non-cash bail,” Lamunu said.
On the unclaimed funds, Lamunu said courts have notice boards guiding the public on refund procedures and that refunds can be processed through bank accounts and mobile money.
“It does not serve us any good to have that money on the account. It’s not our money,” she said.
PAC has directed the Judiciary to provide detailed records of claimants and indicate how long some of the unclaimed bail money has remained under court custody, as lawmakers push for reforms in both bail assessment and refund management.
