The Deputy Chief Justice, Hon. Justice Richard Buteera
The Deputy Chief Justice, Hon. Justice Richard Buteera, has said the Judiciary's transformational agenda is to take justice services closer to the people by constructing and operationalizing more courts to reduce on the distance people travel to access courts.
This, he said, while officiating over the Kiboga Court Open Day on April 5, 2023 where he noted that Open Days were also part and parcel of the Judiciary transformation agenda to give a platform to the public to give feedback to the courts about its services.
Hon. Justice Buteera noted that the plan is also to fill manpower gaps by recruiting more judicial officers at all court levels to reduce on delays in completion of cases, revamping and decentralizing the Inspectorate of Courts to regional centres to check on the conduct performance and conduct of Judicial Officers. Having a good case management system to track case flows regularly to avoid old and non-starter cases clogging the system among others, were some of the transformations that he mentioned.
In order to ensure that everyone has access to justice, the DCJ urged the public to embrace and support Judiciary reforms and innovations to ensure access to justice. for all by making use of the innovations intended to foster fair and timely access to justice, reporting any wrongdoing by judicial officers for investigation and appropriate action, giving honest feedback and criticism on areas for improvement, respecting court judgments, ruling and orders, and Local Governments and individuals offering free land for construction of Courts to improve physical access to justice among others.
The Mubende High Court Resident Judge, Hon. Justice Moses Kawumi Kazibwe, commended the Kiboga Acting Chief Magistrate, HW Namazzi Ann Jacqueline, and her team for their good working relationship with the people of Kiboga.
He said that all Judicial Officers under his leadership, have an open door policy and urged them (the public) to utilize it to ensure that all their queries are addressed.
Among the challenges that court users in accessing court services, Hon. Justice Kazibwe noted long distances, increased land disputes that have led to fighting and other forms of violence, which he said the judicial officers are working hard to adjudicate.
The Judiciary Public Relations Officer, HW Jamson Karemani, who represented the Chief Registrar, HW Sarah Langa Siu, thanked the DCJ for gracing the event. He thanked the Mubende High Court Resident Judge for touring all the districts under his Circuit.
HW Karemani also expressed gratitude to the public for attending the Open Day and assured them that their issues will be addressed, and if possible, offered advice on how to approach them.
He further urged members of the public to visit the exhibition stalls set up so that they could benefit and learn from the various institutions that were represented there.
The Resident District Commissioner, Ms. Mariam Nalubega Seguya, described the Deputy Chief Justice's visit at the Court as historic and a true reflection of taking services to the people and a true reflection of humility. She commended the Court for the cooperation which has brought harmony in the district by halting eviction of Bibanja Holders in the district.
The Acting Chief Magistrate said the court has adopted several strategies to fight corruption. These include; putting up staff charts to enable the public identify all officers and staff at the court, anti-corruption posters and an open door policy.
Question and Answer Session
During the question and answer session, the Deputy Chief Justice urged members of the public to always file appeals in time whenever they are dissatisfied with the decision of a lower court. Noting that in courts of law, unlike sports activities, records of draws are not recorded.
All court users got an opportunity to raise their concerns and all stakeholders who were present were able to give responses. Where responses could not easily be easily given, the concerned officials took the mobile phone numbers of the parties and pledged to give responses and brief the Deputy Chief Justice.
Some of the concerns included delayed resolution of land disputes, cases taking long in Court, and parties not receiving judgments after decisions into their matters have been made.
Posted 5th, April 2023
