Mr. Kagole Kivumbi, PS/SJ and the team from Judiciary before the Committee on Legal and Parliamentary Affairs
KAMPALA: The Chairperson of Parliament's Committee on Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Hon.Jacob Oboth Oboth assured the Judiciary that the Administration of the Judiciary Bill is on track.
"It is not true that the Administration of the Judiciary Bill has been rejected. Some members of the (NRM) Caucus just raised concerns about the bit to do with payment of 100 percent salary to retired judges," he said.
"The good thing is that the Committee Report on the Bill is not a bad one. What you need to know is that members of the NRM Caucus also need some awareness about the intentions of the Bill. Ideally, things are not as bad as they have been portrayed."
Hon. Oboth made the remarks during an interface between the Judiciary and the Committee on Tuesday as the Judiciary presented its Policy Statement for 2019/20 FY to the Committee.
Permanent Secretary/Secretary to the Judiciary,Mr. Kagole E. Kivumbi, led a 21-man delegation to Parliament for an appearance before the Parliament’s Committee on Legal and Parliamentary Affairs.
The PS/SJ submitted a Judiciary's budget requirement for 2019/20 of Shs151.167 billion, which will be utilized to pay the civil service pay reform wages, pensions and gratuity and phased construction of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal building.
He also submitted Judiciary's request for an additional Shs. 13.54 billion for enhancing the remuneration of the existing Judicial Officers in line with the Civil Service Pay reforms (Magistrate Grade One - from Shs1, 700,000 to Shs3, 500,000 per month and Chief Magistrates from Shs3, 550,000 to Shs9.8 million).
The other additional funding request was for Shs 91billion to finance the phased recruitment of 100 new judicial officers (49 Magistrates Grade One, 20 Chief Magistrates, and 31 High Court Judges), and another Shs 20billion for case management, among others.
The Judiciary team heard that MPs were angered by remarks of a judge who described them as villagers while handling a case in court."Well, we might be a true reflection of the very people we represent, but is it right for a judge to describe honorable Members of Parliament as villagers,"wondered Hon. Abbas Agaba (MP-Kitagwenda County).
Some MPs wondered why the courts are still stuck with election-related petitions when the roadmap for subsequent election is already out. "Do they want us to make a special law to keep MPs like Kato Lubwama in Parliament until the petition challenging his election is disposed of as other MPs go for re-election?" said MP Oboth.
Hon. Asuman Basalirwa (MP Bugiri Municipality)also said some High Court judges are issuing court orders that are contradictory - gave an example of where one court extended time given by a Statute and another decreed that Court has no authority to extend time.
Hon. Rwakoojo Robinah Gureme (Gomba West)appreciated the Judiciary for organizing special court sessions in which over 700 SGBV cases were resolved. She however, urged the Judiciary to work closely with the Police to ensure that evidence does not disappear before matters reach court.
Hon. Oboth commended Judiciary's submission and said the Judiciary has a good working relationship with the Legal Committee. He tasked the Judiciary to consider putting in a proposal for joint sensitization of Local Council Courts. "We would like the Judiciary to take a lead in the sensitization aimed at increasing access to justice. The sooner you make a case for these joint sensitization, the better," he said.
Posted 3rd, April 2019
