Land Division Launches Bar-Bench Committee, Lay Strategies to Improve Service Delivery
(L-R): Hon. Justice John Eudes Keitirima (Head Land Division , HW Natukunda Janeva
On Thursday April 7, 2022, the Land Division held its inaugural Bar-Bench Committee meeting at Grand Imperial Hotel, Kampala.
The meeting was aimed at discussing applicable best practices for the effective administration of Land Justice,giving updates on the challenges facing the Division, and exploring solutions.The meeting was organized to receive candid feedback from advocates aimed at improving service delivery.
The Head of Division, Hon. Justice John Eudes Keitirima, appreciated the participants for turning up for the meeting yet on short notice. "We are here to devise strategies on how best we can do our work. It's a good practice that on a regular basis, you consult key stakeholders, not only to get feedback on how you deliver the service but also to devise mechanisms on how to perform better," he said.
In terms of case disposal, he said between the months of January and March this year, 1,546 cases were disposed of while 932 were registered. "The pending cases stand at 10,288. Of these, 4,271are categorized as backlog which constitutes 41.5% of the total workload."
Hon. Justice Keitirima noted that the average workload per Judicial Officer is more than 1,000 cases.
Strategies to Curb Backlog
Among the strategies to address backlog that the head of Court highlighted to fight backlog were; cause-listing70 cases categorized as backlog and 30 cases of the other category, strengthening the Mediation function, embracing technology (Electronic Court Case Management Information System), developing a tool that will monitor caseload and performance of Judicial Officers and strictly apply civil procedure rules especially in regard to time-frames.
Others include Judicial Officers tracking their caseload, giving priority to old cases and timely delivery of rulings and judgements.
Participants raised several issues that were not limited to ECCMIS implementation hiccups, increased fraud in land transactions, orders that are conflicting and seemingly not enforceable for instance those that affect third parties, the new Civil Procedure Rules,temporary injunction negative effects and files transferred on grounds of jurisdiction.
In response, Hon. Justice Keitirima emphasized the need to pursue Mediation where they detect settlement,appreciate scheduling conferences of cases and embrace technology.
He explained that the reason for cause-listing old cases was due to the fact that during the course some parties still have interests in their cases but hesitate to push for hearing dates.
On the issue stakeholders embracing technology, Hon. Lady Justice Immaculate Busingye, who heads the ECCMIS Technical Committee, emphasized the benefits that come with technology."Technology has its own challenges and benefits. We need to embrace it and go through its challenges because to stabilize an Information Technology system takes time," she said.
The Division's Deputy Registrar, HW Natukunda Janeva, encouraged lawyers to embrace online payment of court fees for easy validation, avoid undervaluing property in suits, create ECCMIS accounts in order to master the system, and endeavor to sign documents before uploading.
It was also agreed that such interfaces be held on a quarterly basis to help resolve any issues that arise.
Participants included Hon. Lady Justice Olive Kazarwe Mukwaya, HW Ayo Miriam Eddy (Deputy Registrar) as well as HW Simon Kintu Zirintusa (Assistant Registrar).
Land Division Accredited Mediators,advocates, representatives from Uganda Law Society, Administrator General,Office of Land Registration, and Uganda Forestry Authority took part in the meeting.
Posted 7th, April 2022
