Justices of the Commercial Court on Thursday March 28, 2024 held a Court Users Meeting with an eight-member team from the Uganda Bankers Association (UBA) leadership.
The meeting was chaired by the Deputy Head of the Court, Hon. Lady Justice Anna B. Mugenyi.
The purpose of the meeting was to shed light on the evolving nature of banking litigation, highlight key challenges faced by both the Court and the Banks, and propose recommendations for efficient and effective disposal of banking cases by the Court.
The Executive Director of UBA, Mr. Wilbrod Owor, who led the bankers' team, presented some of the challenges being faced by the banking and financial services industry for the attention of the Court to see ways of improving how they can be handled best.
These included; lack of uniform practices by the Court in application of conditions for injunctions to stop sale of mortgaged property specifically on the timeline to pay 30%deposit (Regulation 13(1) of the Mortgaged Regulations, 2012), irregular court orders due to fraud targeting dormant bank accounts through arbitration awards and garnishee proceedings, forum shopping and abuse of court processes through filing multiplicity of applications, frivolous and vexatious suits. He also highlighted case management challenges and delayed dispensation of matters.
The Head of the Commercial Court Division, Hon. Justice Stephen Mubiru thanked the team for raising the challenges and also gave some recommendations to the banks on how to handle those challenges. He encouraged banks to be transparent with their customers in their operations, keep proper records for purposes of tracking correspondences with their customers, effective communication with their customers and provide easy access to loan accounts and loan schedules by their clients. Hon. Justice Mubiru emphasized the use of amicable resolution of banking-related disputes through negotiation and mediation, which offer several advantages for banks in resolving disputes.
Additionally, Hon. Justice Mubiru highlighted to the UBA team the shortage of staff at the Court. He specifically mentioned that Commercial Court has only one permanent Registrar at the rank of Assistant Registrar and the other two Registrars have other deployments.
Emphatically, the Judges noted that many of the banking cases can be resolved through ADR, which allows Banks to maintain positive relationships with their customers, compared to adversarial litigation.
The Court and the UBA agreed on the way forward including the Court documenting its processes and practices, a checklist to follow on dealing with arbitration awards and garnishee proceedings and having more Registrars deployed at the Commercial Court Division.
Present at the meeting; Hon. Lady Cornelia Sabiiti Kakooza; Hon. Lady Justice Susan Abinyo, Hon. Mr. Justice Thomas Ocaya and Hon. Lady Justice Patricia Kahigi Asiimwe.
The Acting Registrar of the Court Division, HW John Paul Edoku and Magistrates Grade One - Research at the Court were also in attendance.
Posted 28th, March 2024
