The Standards, Utilities and Wildlife Court, a specialized court that deals with criminal cases related to stealing of utilities like power, water, vandalism,dealing in fake goods, killing of wildlife, among others, on Monday April 16, 2018 held its second engagement with its Court Users.
The meeting held at Buganda Chief Magistrates' Court was attended by officials from different standards agencies such as Uganda Wildlife Authority, National Water and Sewage Corporation, Uganda National Bureau of Statistics (UNBS), Fisheries Protection Unit, Uganda Communications Commission and Umeme, among others.
The Court’s Chief Magistrate, HW James Ereemye Mawanda, explained that the meeting was held to develop best practices to improve service delivery in the Standards Court.
HW Ereemyeurged the prosecuting agencies to embrace Judiciary's reforms such as PleaBargaining in order to fight case backlog. He further expressed concerns overcases stalling at the Court saying it creates case backlog.
Ms Caroline Agonzibwa, the UNBS legal officer said the stalling of cases is caused by lack of witnesses and mismanagement of exhibits.
The Kampala Resident City Commissioner, Ms Sarah Bananuka, expressed concern about minors being recruited into crime by adults, calling for sensitization in schools about the consequences of crime.
She also emphasized the need to create more rehabilitation centres for children in conflict with the law.
HW Ereemye encouraged continuous networking and collaboration between agencies in order to appreciate each other's mandate.
The Standards, Utilities and Wildlife Court was launched in 2017 by the Chief Justice aiming to fast track the prosecution of cases to save Ugandans from loss of revenue as well as save life in cases of adulteration of customer goods.
Posted 17th, April 2018
