The Hon. Chief Justice, Hon. Justice Bart Katureebe giving his remarks at the New Law Year 2019
The Judiciary registered a 52 percent disposal rate of cases after completing a record 164,530 cases within 2018.
"Given the circumstances in which we operate, a disposal rate of 52 percent is no mean achievement. Let me therefore thank all Judicial Officers at your various levels, the entire staff of the Judiciary, the Bar and Court Users for this good performance," said the jubilant Chief Justice, Hon. Justice Bart M. Katureebe.
While speaking at the opening of the new law year, he said that in 2018, there were a total of 314,868 cases in the court system but were able to complete 164,530 and only 150,382 are still pending.
The event that attracted a cross-section of stakeholders from the three arms of the state, the legal fraternity, civil society and the public, was graced by the Vice President, HE Edward Kiwanuka Ssekandi.
Hon. Justice Katureebe also said that the Judiciary had registered a significant reduction in backlogged judgments from 24 percent in 2017 to 21 percent in 2018.
"There are now lesser judgments pending for more than 60 days. Most of the judicial officers did adhere to the Chief Justice's directive of August 2017 requiring them to deliver all judgments that were pending for more than 60 days from the date of the directive," he said.
He explained that they were able to register the tremendous milestones with the help of the Case Backlog Monitoring Committee that conducted nationwide case backlog monitoring exercises in the courts throughout the country.
"The ultimate goal of the Judiciary is to have a case backlog free Judiciary," he said.
He stated that by April 2019, Soroti High Court will be backlog free while the Criminal Division is expected to be backlog free by end of August 2019.
Efficiency
In a bid to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the Judiciary, the institution is in the process of procuring the Electronic Court Case Management Information System (ECMIS) that will automate and track all aspects of a case life cycle from initial filing through disposition and appeal.
He said the Judiciary has also launched the computerized Performance Enhancement Tool (PET) that is premised on a 360 degree appraisal system where a Judicial Officer will be appraised by a number of stakeholders including supervisors,peers, subordinates and members of the public.
He noted that evaluation will focus on agreed performance indicators and targets on the one hand, and behavioral competencies on the other.
"The appraisee and the supervisor's evaluation will focus on both the performance targets and behavioral competencies while the peers, subordinates and the public will focus only on the behavioral competencies," he said.
The Chief Justice said they have acquired a Customer Feedback Telephone with aToll-Free facility to enhance the Judiciary's public accountability processes through the consistent provision of accurate information about court services.
The Judiciary also launched the E-payment of court fees by court users through e-cards and mobile money.
"Points-of-Sale(PoS) have already been installed at our High Court Criminal and Commercial Divisions. More Points of Sale will gradually be installed across the Country by the relevant Commercial Banks and Pay Way," he said.
Plans for 2019
The Chief Justice also revealed that they have several plans up their sleeves to improve the dispensation of justice and tackle graft.
Amongst these include the installation of a video conferencing facility between Buganda Road Court and Luzira Prison, for sensitive cases that require a high level of security.
Posted 5th, February 2019
