Members of DCC at Makindye Chief Magistrate Court
On Wednesday May 28,2021, the Makindye Chief Magistrates Court held its quarterly District Chain-linked Committee (DCC) meeting. Representatives of different JLOS institutions exchanged views on delivering justice for areas around Makindye fairly promptly.
This year, the meeting was chaired by Chief Magistrate HW Katushabe Prossy, who commended the stakeholders' efforts in justice delivery.
"I would like to thank you all for closely working with the court and being available whenever you are called upon, for the efforts you render when it comes to Justice delivery and the good working relationship we have with you. I pray that you keep the spirit positive," she said.
She noted that there were great strides in resolving some of the challenges raised in the previous meeting. These included missing witnesses in court, continuous renewal of remand warrants, transportation of suspects from the court, stay of suspects in police cells after remand, among others.
In her report for the last quarter (January to March), she noted that the station completed 802 cases and registered 752. There were 249 cases categorized as backlog, and that the bulk of these were land and capital offences.
"Generally, there has been a big improvement in the last quarter, and we are working hard to clear this backlog," she said.
That notwithstanding, HW Katushabe noted that they still face the challenge of operating in an old congested building, slow internet combined with old computers crippled by the unstable power supply and sanitation issues.
She added that these have already been forwarded to the administration to handle, and they hope to get an immediate response.
The Chief State Attorney of Makindye, Mr Kunya Noah, reminded the DCC members to continue observing SOPs because Covid is still present. He was also concerned about the poor communication between Court and Prisons service. He encouraged Court to always communicate with prisons on time while summoning witnesses and suspects for proper planning and management.
He further informed the meeting that his office has held a meeting with Judicial Officers and agreed on managing plea taking of suspects.
Mr Kunya shared tha the prayed that many remandees are charged with petty cases while others need plea bargain but have not been given enough time with their lawyers. In this, the prison management was urged to render the necessary help whenever they are contacted.
Mr Tibashoboka Priston, the Deputy OC Kampala Remand Prison, expressed concern that suspects were spending a long time in police cells even after being remanded. He attributed the delay to the mandatory Covid-19 testing of every prisoner beforea dmission.
"Certificates delay to be produced and brought to police. However, special arrangements are being explored between Police, Kiruddu and Mulago hospitals to have them produced within three days or less", he said.
It was also noted that the physical appearance of prisoners in open court is yet to resume and awaits clearance from the Commissioner General of Prisons and Ministry of Internal Affairs.
The DCC agreed that Prisons produces lists of prisoners transferred from one prison facility to another to avoid mismatch in prisoner lists and make it easy for relatives to trace them.
It was recommended that investigations in capital offences be concluded in four months and 24hours for petty offences.
"Whenever there is a need for more time due to complexity of some cases, judicial officers should be formally informed in time to minimize conflicting decisions," CM Katushabe said.
Regarding sharing of cause-lists, the meeting agreed that the Court's Systems Administrator updates his email lists so that cause-lists are sent to rightful officers for action. That is the prisons authorities so that they can prepare to produce the prisoners in court.
Mr Peter Lwanga Mayanja, a probation officer at KCCA, said they had resettled at least 25former street children in Napak District. He, however, requested the DCC to advocate for the passing of the new law that prevents children from being on the streets.
Other Judicial Officers who attended the meeting were Magistrate Grade One, HW Edith Mbabazi and Magistrate Grade Two, HW Okipi John Robert.
Posted 29th, April 2021
