Members at the High Court during the meeting
Chief Justice, Hon. Justice Bart\r\nKatureebe asked government to provide more than Shs 30 billion every year to\r\nsupplement the Judiciary’s efforts to improve the administration of justice in\r\nthe country by way of addressing unfunded priorities.
Hon. Justice Katureebe, while\r\naddressing a meeting with the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee in at\r\nthe High Court in Kampala on April 13, 2016, said the Judiciary needs Shs 7.2\r\nbillion every year for the next five years to develop and launch a robust case\r\nmanagement system to promote modern methods of data management to enhance\r\nperformance management.
"Currently, the court proceedings in\r\nall Magistrates Courts and some High Court circuits are handwritten, this\r\nprocedure is slow, tedious and prone to all alterations, which works against\r\nthe core principles of access to Justice, which includes the right to a copy of\r\nproceedings,” Justice Katureebe said.
He added that the Judiciary needs an\r\nadditional Shs 5.6 billion per year for the next five years to provide transport\r\nfor trial Judicial Officers, especially Magistrates who travel to hear on-site\r\nland cases in fulfillment of the legal requirement.
Other priority needs for the\r\nJudiciary, according to the Chief Justice, are Shs 6 billion for construction of\r\nfive courts every year to increase Judiciary-owned buildings from the current\r\n79 out of 154 premises, Shs5.6 billion for increasing magisterial areas from 39\r\nto 81 and Shs 6 billion to fund introduction of Alternative Dispute Resolution\r\n(ADR).
Hon. Justice Katureebe revealed that\r\nthe Judiciary is in the process of piloting the performance management scheme\r\nfor all Judicial Officers to enhance performance, transparency and\r\naccountability in the judicial process.
"Civil procedure rules and Court of\r\nAppeal and Supreme Court Rules are to be amended to reduce timeliness and costs\r\nof adjudicating cases in courts. Soon, we shall ask Parliament to address\r\nlong-standing amendments to the Trial and Indictment Act and Magistrates Courts\r\nAct to provide for plea bargaining and reform of committal proceedings to\r\naddress pre-trial remands in capital cases,” he said.
According to Hon. Justice Katureebe,\r\nthe Judiciary has earmarked an additional Shs 20 billion under the non-wage\r\nbudget in the next financial year that will be utilized on court operations,\r\ncase backlog reduction, training and capacity building, legal reference\r\nmaterials and allowances among others.
Additional Information: http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Courts-seek-extra-Shs30b-to-clear-cases/-/688334/3164964/-/ty383rz/-/index.html
Posted 15th, April 2016
