"Mediation is now a permanent feature\r\nin all out court processes,” declared the Hon. Principal Judge, Yorokamu\r\nBamwine, on Friday 18 March 2015.
The principal judge was presiding over\r\nthe launch of the rollout of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) from the\r\nCommercial Court of the High Court to other courts and dispute resolution\r\nbodies within the JLOS sector.
ADR is a mediation process that allows\r\nparties to a dispute find a quick solution with the assistance of a neutral\r\nthird party, without going through the costly and lengthy court process.
Originally piloted in the Commercial\r\nCourt, ADR is now being rolled out to the other High Court Divisions of Civil,\r\nFamily, Land and Magistrate Courts. ADR services will also be available in the\r\nother JLOS dispute resolution bodies like the Industrial Court, Judicial\r\nService Commission, Uganda Human Rights Commission, the Law Council, the\r\nDirectorate of Civil Litigation, Uganda Law Society and the Office of the\r\nAdministrator General.
The Project is expected to contribute\r\nto the implementation of the JLOS 3rd Strategic Investment Plan (SIPIII),\r\nparticularly with regard to increasing the use of ADR in dispute resolution.
The Project will also focus on\r\ntraining a pool of professional mediators across the country, strengthening of\r\ncourt registries for mediation in the Judiciary, conducting sensitization and\r\ncommunity outreach programmes. The plan further includes the establishment of a\r\nfully-fledged High Court Division for Mediation in the Judiciary and\r\nharmonizing structures across JLOS institutions.
Supported by the Austrian Development\r\nAgency, the ADR Project provides the JLOS Sector with an opportunity to\r\nimplement the Judicature (Mediation) Rules of 2013, which makes mediation\r\nmandatory in all civil matters including land, family and main civil law.
"Through mediation, the Project\r\nprovides access to justice for vulnerable and marginalized people whose cases\r\ntake long to be concluded in the formal justice system,” said Justice David\r\nWangutusi, the chairperson, ADR Project Advisory Board.
"Investors and local businessmen would\r\nlike to do business in a country where disputes would be easily resolved. Much\r\nof the money used by these businesses is borrowed from banks at high interest\r\nrates. Such money tied up in disputes that stretch over a long time only leads\r\nto multiplication of bank interest, and therefore cost of operation, which\r\ndirectly impacts on the profits which the businessman makes, at times leading\r\nto collapse of big business ventures.”
The judge says ADR principles shall\r\napply equally to claims in family, civil and land matters. "It is therefore\r\nwith mediation that the ever-growing backlog can be checked and access to\r\njustice enhanced,” added Justice Wangutusi.
Background
In the early 2000, mediation was\r\npiloted in the Commercial Court as an alternative to litigation, and many cases\r\nwere successfully mediated. Judicial officers were left with time to try cases\r\nwhich are ordinarily not amenable to mediation – substantially increasing the\r\nproductivity of the courts, satisfaction, and confidence of court users in the\r\njustice system.
Mediation and arbitration have been on\r\nthe increase since the creation of the Centre for Arbitration and Dispute\r\nResolution (CADER) in 2000. Between 2003 and 2005 the Commercial Court\r\nDivision implemented the mediation Pilot Project whereby cases were referred to\r\nCADER for mediation.
Mediation became a permanent feature\r\nat the Commercial Court with the passing of the Judicature (Mediation) Rules\r\n2013. Following the success story at the Commercial Court, it was decided to\r\nrollout mediation at all the courts with the gazetting of the Mediation Rules\r\n2013.
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It is therefore important that\r\nmediation should be embraced by all to win the war on backlog and increase\r\naccess to Justice.
Posted 18th, March 2015
