Hon. Justice Dr Flavian Zeija, Principal Judge (standing) at the Adjumani Open Day
Several refugees and court users took part in the Adjumani Chief Magistrate's Court Open day that was held at the Alere Refugee Settlement Camp in Adjumani district on Wednesday September 28, 2022.
The Open day, which was presided over by the Principal Judge, Hon. Justice Dr Flavian Zeija, was aimed at sensitizing refugees and Court users in Adjumani about court reforms as well as getting feedback from them about court services and access to justice in the area.
Representatives from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, members of refugee leadership, district leadership, justice actors, and civil society organizations also took part in the Open Day activities.
The Principal Judge explained that the Judiciary is past the era where Judicial Officers don’t interact with the public. "We must know people and we must know the problems they are facing," he said.
He noted that the Judiciary is alive to the challenges facing refugees in the quest of justice including language barrier, identification to get bail and access to court services, among others.
He, however, pointed out that the Judiciary is attempting to address these issues by strengthening its innovations, training judicial officers on how to handle refugees, and using technology to improve service delivery. He also informed the attendees that refugees can now be granted bail by presenting authentic documents and that more judicial officers are to be recruited to handle case backlog.
Additionally, he noted the necessity of establishing courts in refugee camps.
The Chief Registrar commended Adjumani Magistrate Grade I, HW Nantaawo Agnes Sheilagh, and the Chief Magistrate who is responsible for Adjumani, HW Kayizzi Ronald, for the job well done. Particularly for their efforts to reduce thebacklog of cases and for arranging the archives of the Adjumani.
The CR further asked the justice actors to develop a strong legal literacy campaign to combat legal ignorance among refugees.
She took the refugees and court users through court procedures and processes such as Court bail and bond. And also explained to court users why higher courts occasionally recall files.
Adding that there is procedure of investigating complaints against judicial officers and court staff, this was in response to some of the concerns members of the public had raised.
HW Kayizzi thanked the Principal Judge and Chief Registrar for reaching out to the people in Adjumani. He also extended his gratitude to HW Nantaawo for the strides taken in handling the case backlog. He thanked the Judiciary for supporting Moyo magisterial area with vehicles to aid transport in the hard to reach areas and requested that the Grade One Magistrate for Adjumani is also given a vehicle to make her work easy.
The Adjumani Magistrate Grade I, noted that she had managed to reorganize the archives which makes it easy to retrieve files.
She however noted that there was a challenge of staffing. The court has only two support staff who have to multitask amidst challenges of transport especially in accessing hard to reach areas.
The Adjumani Vice Chairperson LCV, Mr Aijuka Richard Aurther, thanked the Magistrate Grade I for the work well done. He requested for the deployment of a resident Chief Magistrate to lessen the workload of the Moyo Chief Magistrate.
Mr Ssentamu John Bosco, from the Office of Prime Minister appreciated the host community and justice actors for their support to refugees.
Posted 28th, September 2022
