HW Esta Nambayo (R) with Masaka staff during the re-organization exercise
MASAKA: The reorganization and data cleaning exercise of court registries has started off at Masaka High Court.
The exercise has led to a physical count of all High Court files in Masaka.
The Chief Registrar, HW Esta Nambayo, is spearheading the exercise which is being conducted on the directive of the Chief Justice.
Other members on her team include HW Tom Chemutai-Registrar High Court; HW Susan Abinyo-Registrar Magistrates Affairs & Data Management, as well as Mr Andrew Khaukha-Judiciary Technical Advisor.
All the files in the High Court Registry have been moved to a court hall where a team of support staff are doing a physical count of the files.
The team is supported by a team from International Justice Mission (IJM) and supervised by the Masaka Resident Judge Dr Winifred Nabisinde and Assistant Registrar, HW Dorothy Sempala Lwanga.
According to the Chief Registrar, the overall objective of the re-organization exercise is to reconcile the manual record of the available cases including their status with the record in the Court Case Administration System (CCAS).
It is anticipated that process to conduct a physical count of files, reconciliation with CCAS will take five days.
In a meeting with Judicial Officers and staff of the Masaka Chief Magistrate's Court, the CR explained that a census has been planned for the Magistrates'courts.
She noted that there has been a problem with records which affects planning for the courts.
"...going forward, every quarter, registrars will be meeting to present data for their circuit as well as the magistrates court under their supervision." This,she added, will be used to assess whether what the registrars have corresponds with what reflects on the system.
On the issue of supervision, the CR urged the Judicial Offices to closely supervise their registry staff and ensure that proper records are entered into the system.
She cautioned the clerks against laxity saying entering data was part of the accountability to ascertain what transpired in court. "We do not want clerks who just go to court and interpret in court then sit back in the registry. You must reflect what has transpired in court on the system."
The CR implored the Judicial Officers to equally acquaint themselves with the CCAS system to see if it is a reflection of the court record.
She emphasized the need of Judicial Officers to have copies judgments delivered. "Don't just deliver judgments on a laptop and go away. You must have a signed, dated copy of your judgment on the file."
Posted 28th, February 2019
