JUDICIARY Latest Features

Constitutional Court Justice, Hon. Justice Remmy Kasule, the Hon. Principal Judge Hon. Justice Dr. Yorokamu Bamwine, Uganda Law Society president Francis Gimara and Chief Justice Bart Katureebe, launch a report on the state of the Judiciary

Attack on the independence\r\nof the Judiciary by an overbearing Executive are on the rise, hampering the\r\nadministration of Justice in the country a 2016, report on the status of\r\nJudiciary has revealed.

The report titled In Dire Straits? The State of the Judiciary\r\n2016, authored by Centre for Public Interest Law, was released in\r\nKampala on August 17, 2016.

The report points at defiance of court orders by the\r\nexecutive, repeated criticism of judicial officers by H.E. President Museveni\r\nand the raid by armed men (black mamba) on the High Court (November 2005) as\r\nsome of the other ugly incidents that indicate the decline in the rule of law.

"It is to be remembered that one of the cardinal\r\nrequirements of the rule of law is that government should comply with\r\njudgments/orders of court which are passed against it. 

Unfortunately, the impunity with which this particular requirement has been\r\ndisregarded by the Executive lends credence to the findings that Uganda is\r\nindeed a fragile state,” the report says.

It pointed out that repeated threats on judicial officers forces some to work\r\nin fear. "Owing to the decline of the rule of law, the legal altar\r\nupon which judicial officers abdicate their responsibility, have shied away\r\nfrom making pronouncements that would negatively affect the Executive,” states\r\nthe report.

While launching the report, Chief Justice, Hon. Justice Bart\r\nKatureebe agreed with the findings and called for a collective effort for a\r\nbetter Judiciary. Hon. Justice Katureebe lashed out at government for being\r\nquick to increase the seats for the number of political leaders and MPs but\r\nvery slow to fix understaffing of the judiciary. "We have been begging for the appointment of judges, but\r\nwhy do we continue begging the Executive and Parliament for the resolution to\r\napprove more judges?” the Chief Justice wondered as the audience applauded him.

"Why should we beg them and yet the same people will come\r\nand say, ‘there is a case backlog in the courts. These judges are lazy.’ Why\r\nshould it be very easy to increase the number of members of Parliament, local\r\ngovernment administrators and yet it’s difficult to increase the number of\r\njudges from 50 to 80,” he repeatedly asked.

The president of Uganda Law Society, Mr Francis Gimara,\r\ndecried the little funding, of less than one per cent of the total budget, that\r\nthe judiciary gets in comparison to the other two arms of state.

Mr Gimara shocked the audience when he revealed that in some of the upcountry\r\ncourts, judicial officers are forced to ask for paper from lawyers in order to\r\ncarry out their judicial duties. "That is a terrible situation if paper flows from the Bar\r\nto the Bench. You can’t expect miracles from a Shs. 300,000 monthly budget\r\ngiven to a magistrate to operate several courts…” Mr Gimara said.

Report Highlights