Chief Registrar Meets ACD Judicial Officers
HW Sarah Langa, Chief Registrar (Middle) with Judicial Officers and member of staff at Anti- Corruption Division
On Tuesday February 8, 2022, the Chief Registrar, HW Sarah Langa Siu met Judicial officers of the Anti-Corruption Court. As part of her visit, she also inspected the premises of the Kololo based Court.
The Chief Registrar said the purpose of the visit was to identify challenges affecting the Court's operations and find quick solutions to enable better functionality.
In the meeting, CR placed emphasis on the need to dispose off more cases with the increased funding to the court.
"To whom much is given much is required. I hope that with availability of funds, you will make the most of the opportunity in completing out-of-station sessions that you go for. Please ensure there is value for money," HW Langa said.
Adding that with the Anti-Corruption Division Case Management Rules of 2021, magistrates should effectively manage their caseloads by laying down strategies for orderly, expeditious, efficient, and cost-effective handling of cases.
As part of the strategies to improve performance, the Chief Registrar stressed the need for consultation, firmness and confidence when making decisions in addition to adopting best practices to fight case backlog.
Some of the challenges reported by the judicial officers included frequent transfer of the Court's officers, prosecutors' laxity and inadequate preparations before filing cases.
As a result of this meet, a number of resolutions geared towards improving the performance of the court were made.
These included; Magistrates allocate either a week or month in a quarter to handle backlogged cases, occasionally plan, set and review performance targets.
Others were the need to balance between the soft and hard cases, and the Deputy Registrar to organize a meeting with the prosecutors to discuss how best to work together
The Division's Deputy Registrar, HW Pamela Lamunu Ocaya, informed CR that the Court is set to hold upcountry sessions having received funds for the quarter.
She also noted that the court was ready for the migration to the Electronic Court Case Management Information System.
Posted 10th, February 2022
