Hon. Justice Dr Zeija (Middle) with HW Winnie Nankya at Ngoma
The Principal Judge, Hon. Justice Dr Flavian Zeija, continued with his countrywide court inspections; visiting Ngoma, Semuto and Nakaseke Courts under the Luweero Magisterial Area. Magistrate Grade One, HW Winnie Nankya, runs the three courts.
Ngoma and Semuto were previously Magistrate Grade II Courts until early this year when they were operationalized as Magistrate Grade I courts.
Ngoma Court
After driving 58km on a murram stretch from Nakaseke to Ngoma Court, there is nothing that quite prepares you for the experience at this remote court. The court is adjacent to the prisons and police post, which is a stone's throw away.
Torn mattresses, wooden cupboards, disheveled filing cabinets and a dirty floor are the first things that catch your sight when you walk into the dilapidated structure that houses the Court. Save for a dirty chair and desk at the front of the room and two rickety desks, it is hard to imagine that it is a court.
"There are no chambers or sanitary facilities My Lord, this is all we have (pointing to the court hall)," HW Nankya said.
The court has no support staff and as such, the Magistrate has to move with a clerk from Nakaseke every time she has to hold court there.
With nowhere to sit, the PJ moved the briefing outside where they were joined by DPC Geoffrey Hantali, the District Prisons Commander for Ngoma and District Police Commander Ben Igama.
DPC Hantali said whenever there is a court sitting; the prisons lend the court some furniture. HW Jatiko explained that because it is an open court, she could not guarantee the safety of the files or register, so she opted to move with them to Nakaseke and only brings them to the court when she is handling matters there.
The Police informed the PJ that due to Covid-19 and its effects, whenever court remands suspects, they have to look for transport to take the accused persons to either Kitalya or Kasangati prisons.
HW Jatiko said, the court has 80 cases most of which are offences of cattle theft because the area is a cattle corridor. The court equally has no backlog.
Semuto Court
Before visiting Ngoma Court, the PJ started out with Semuto. The court is about 100 metres from Semuto town and it is equally accommodated in a sub-county administration building. It only handles criminal cases and when court has to proceed, the Magistrate has to inform the prosecutor to be around. Just like Ngoma, it has no support staff. "There used to be one staff here but her contract was not renewed...requests to deploy staff at this court have been in vain."
Adding,"The court is operating adhoc, with me traveling with a clerk each time travel to dispense justice." There are 95 cases pending at the court with two classified as backlog.
The court hall's ceiling boards are being nibbled by rodents and the administration of the facility want the court out. It also has no furniture and relies on that of the sub-county
Nakaseke Court
The court is housed in a newly constructed Justice Centre at Butalangu District Headquarters since July last year. However, barely a year into the facility,the paint is already peeling off. Accessing the court by public transport is by means of boda-boda on a marrum road. In terms of caseload, there are 485 cases in total.
Unlike the other two courts, Nakaseke is fully furnished thanks to the Justice Law and Order Sector. The premises have piped water and alternative water tanks for harvesting rainwater.
"We were in the process of having electricity installed but we suffered a setback when COVID-19 pandemic set in, HW Jatiko explained.
As a result, although the Court has a computer, it cannot be used. The Magistrate has to print everything from either Luweero or Kampala. The court has three staff, a court clerk who doubles as the process server; an office attendant and a records officer.
The Magistrate explained that they need services of a cashier considering that the nearest banking facilities are in Luweero, which is almost 35km away. The phone network is unstable and can only be accessed at certain points in the court.
She appealed to the PJ to consider her request for official means of transport."Movement to the other courts is hard given its bad roads which also affects conducting locus visits...we have to rely on hired vehicles which is costly and often times the service providers are litigants in the court."
PJ Responds
The PJ emphasized that all Judicial Officers deserve cars and priority will be given to hard to reach areas as soon as funds are secured.
On the issue of power, the PJ promised to follow up with the Permanent Secretary so that the process can be concluded.
He promised to engage the human resource office on the staff challenges at the courts.
He urged the registry staff to ensure that registers are properly updated since they are first points of contact for case files.
Posted 15th, September 2020
