On March 24, 2023, the Deputy Chief Justice, Hon. Justice Richard Buteera, presided over the first Court Open Day at Kumi Chief Magistrate's Court.
The Open Day was described by many justices as historic for not only the Court but all justice institutions.
The Deputy Chief Justice reassured them that the open day was "a day that Judicial Officers, State Attorneys, Members of the Bar, Police, other Justice Actors and all the Security and Governance Programme (formerly JLOS) plus Court Staff come together to interact with the people we serve."
He added that taking services closer to the people is part of Judiciary's transformational agenda. And that holding Court Open Days is among the key strategies for achieving this agenda.
Hon. Justice Buteera noted that in a bid to continuously bring services closer to the people, Judiciary plans to increase the number of Judicial Officers at all court levels. And to also decentralize the Court of Appeal at the regional level by constructing appellate courts at Mbarara, Gulu, Arua, Mbale, Jinja, Masaka, Soroti and Fort Portal.
"When it comes to the Magistrates’ Courts, the Judiciary's commitment to you, is to deploy a Chief Magistrate at every district and a Grade One Magistrate at every County," the DCJ said.
He called upon the Resident Judge and the Chief Magistrate to always carry out inspections of the courts below them as a mechanism of improving service delivery.
The DCJ said the Judiciary is committed to deliver timely justice. He urged the Judicial Officers to embrace best practices such as; certainty of hearing dates, excellent customer care practices, organized archives and exhibit stores and zero tolerance to corruption.
He also appealed to local government authorities to allocate the courts media airtime so that judicial officers can sensitize the public on court processes.
The Soroti Resident Judge, Hon. Justice Dr Henry Peter Adonyo called for the training of Local Council Chairpersons. He tasked the Chief Magistrates and Magistrates Grade One to ensure that the trainings take place so that the local leaders are sensitized on court processes.
Kumi Acting Chief Magistrate, HW Namisi Hope thanked the Judiciary administration for operationalizing the court as a Chief Magistrate's Court which has brought services closes to the people.
She commended the public for trusting them with the duty to adjudicate over their cases, and promised improve with the feedback received.
The Chief Magistrate decried the limited number of state attorneys as one of the challenges affecting her jurisdiction. She appealed for official transport for the courts under the magisterial area. HW Namisi urged the relevant authorities to consider setting up a remand home and rehabilitation centre in Teso sub-region.
The Kumi LCV Chairperson, Mr Sam Akol, thanked the Judiciary for availing them with the platform to interact with Judicial officers and giving court users an opportunity to give them feedback that will improve in delivery of justice.
To ensure that all comments from the court users were captured, a customized form was provided to court users to ensure all queries are noted and that appropriate responses are given.
The Court Open day was concluded with the DCJ being taken on a guided tour of the Court premises where he commended them for having well organized archives.
Posted 24th, March 2023
