Hon. Justice Bart Katureebe , the Chief Justice speaking at the dinner
KAMPALA: The Chief Justice, Hon. Justice Bart M. Katureebe says he has a huge task of convincing government officials about the vital role played by the Judiciary in development of the country and in turn, get support from World Bank.
The CJ explained that when he met World Bank officials last month in Washington, he was assured that money to support the judiciaries around the world is available on condition that their governments prioritizes them.
He was speaking on December 7, 2018 at a dinner organized by Justice Law and Order Sector(JLOS) and International Justice Mission (IJM) at Pearl of Africa Hotel in Kampala.
"Can you imagine us (judicial officers) to convince government that the Judiciary is important? I had a meeting with the Minister of Finance on Thursday December 6,2018 to make a case that law and order is a priority area," Hon. Justice Katureebe added.
"Some people don't understand how to make priorities but the struggle continues. We shall convince those who can be convinced. We shall talk to government and we shall also talk to our friends (Development Partners)."
The head of the Judiciary also revealed how he had sent a copy of land legislation to President Museveni, a copy that he believes can solve the rampant land wrangles in the country.
Hon. Justice Katureebe revealed that he inquired from his Kenyan counterpart on what magic they have done to minimize on land wrangles that side and that in turn, he sent him an amended Land Act that he said has done wonders.
The CJ said Uganda only has land Practice Directions and not a piece of legislation.
"So when you talk about land grabbing, to some of us, it's real but let's not have this blame game of this judge, this magistrate and instead have a piece of legislation."
Hon. Justice Katureebe went on to appeal to his fellow judicial officers that when issuing court orders, to always be mindful that they are mandated to administer justice on behalf of the people.
Mr Shawn Kohl, the National Director of IJM- Uganda, said his organization signed a Memorandum of Understanding with JLOS to help tackle land issues involving women and that the same partnership has yielded results, a year later.
He went ahead to give statistics of IJM intervention in land matters in selected areas of Mukono, Fort Portal and the Northern Uganda.
In Mukono area, he revealed that a total of 650 widows and orphans returned to their homes/land, 66 perpetrators arrested with 59 of them being charged and 26 convicted, 7700 community members, government, police, prosecutors were trained.
In Fort Portal area, Mr. Shawn said 17 survivors received case management support and secured 12 convictions through Kamwenge mobile High Court criminal session.
Posted 12th, December 2018
