The Deputy Chief Justice, Justice Moses Kazibwe Kawumi, has urged High Court judicial officers to look beyond the number of cases disposed of and focus on delivering timely, fair and credible justice.
Justice Kazibwe made the call while officially opening the three-day High Court Quarterly Performance Review Retreat for Quarter Four of the Financial Year 2025/2026 at Kampala Nile Resort, Namanve.
He commended the Principal Judge, Lady Justice Jane Frances Abodo, and the High Court team for organising the retreat, noting that the recent court vacation had enabled judicial officers to write pending decisions, reflect on their work and renew themselves.
The Deputy Chief Justice cautioned that disposal figures could be misleading if presented without context. A court may report many disposals, he observed, even when several matters were dismissed, resolved through plea bargaining or only partially heard.
He said judicial performance should therefore be assessed against the quality and timeliness of decisions, the age of pending cases, adjournment patterns, trial readiness, utilisation of hearing dates and compliance with case-management procedures.
Justice Kazibwe urged judicial officers to treat hearing dates as commitments to litigants and strengthen case management through scheduling conferences, pre-trial disclosure, witness coordination, exhibit tracking and early identification of issues.
He also called for plea bargaining to be conducted transparently and with appropriate safeguards, while dismissals must be legally justified and properly managed to prevent unnecessary relisting and repeated litigation.
The Deputy Chief Justice commended judicial officers and Registrars for adopting the new reporting template, particularly its inclusion of narratives alongside statistics. He said this would help the High Court Registry identify challenges, effective interventions and best practices and provide targeted feedback to individual courts.
He directed Heads of Divisions and Circuits to develop measurable Quarterly Improvement Plans specifying priority interventions, targets, responsible officers, required resources, milestones and risks.
On appellate justice, Justice Kazibwe expressed concern about delayed and incomplete records of appeal from lower courts, warning that persistent non-compliance could attract disciplinary action against responsible officers.
He further called for an orderly and accountable transfer of cases following the enhancement of the pecuniary jurisdiction of Magistrates’ Courts. All transfers from the High Court must comply with the Chief Justice’s Practice Directions and the Administrative Circular issued through the Office of the Principal Judge.
“The process must include accurate inventories, proper indexing, accountability for files and exhibits, acknowledgement of receipt and a verifiable chain of custody.”
Justice Kazibwe urged participants to approach the retreat with candour, professional humility and a solutions-oriented mindset, noting that the true measure of performance is whether court users experience a justice system that is timely, fair, accessible and worthy of their trust.
High Court Records Progress Amid Growing Workload
Presenting the State of the High Court Address, the Principal Judge, Lady Justice Jane Frances Abodo, said quarterly reviews should provide an honest assessment of institutional achievements, shortcomings and the interventions required to improve justice delivery.
She said the Quarter Four reports reflected a High Court that was making progress despite a heavy and, in some jurisdictions, unsustainable workload.
The Land Division reduced its pending caseload by 512 cases, while the Commercial and Family Divisions recorded reductions of 581 and 356 cases, respectively. Gulu, Kitgum, Mbale, Patongo, Kiboga, Moroto and Masaka circuits also registered notable reductions.
However, pending caseloads and backlog increased at several stations. Wakiso recorded the largest increase in backlog, while Luwero, Entebbe, Mukono, Jinja and Mubende also registered significant increases.
Lady Justice Abodo directed every station to analyse the causes of delay affecting its 50 oldest cases and undertake targeted cause-listing, disposal and continuous monitoring.
She also called for urgent action on pending judgments and rulings, stressing that every pending decision should have a responsible judicial officer, reservation date and clear delivery plan.
The Principal Judge highlighted mediation and plea bargaining as important mechanisms for reducing pressure on courts and improving access to justice. She urged courts to monitor referrals, settlements, pending matters and the reasons for unsuccessful mediation.
On data management, she called for regular case censuses, reconciliation of physical files with ECCMIS and CCAS records, removal of duplicate and inactive cases, clear responsibility for data entry and consistent use of the approved reporting format.
Lady Justice Abodo also called for stronger implementation of resolutions adopted during quarterly reviews. “A resolution that is made but not followed up is merely a conversation,” she said.
She directed that each resolution should have a responsible person or office, a timeframe, an expected output and an implementation status for consideration at the next review.
The Principal Judge acknowledged recurring constraints, including staffing shortages, inadequate infrastructure, ICT and power interruptions, limited funding and difficulties in witness management. She urged courts to link each challenge to a proposed action and distinguish between matters that could be addressed locally and those requiring institutional or government intervention.
She commended practices such as daily performance reviews, case-tracking systems, First-In-First-Out cause-listing, data cleaning, Bar-Bench meetings, prison-based plea-bargaining sessions, dedicated judgment-writing days, mediation initiatives and staff-wellness programmes.
For the next quarter, she identified disposal of the oldest cases, reduction of pending decisions, expansion of ADR and plea bargaining, improvement of data integrity, implementation of resolutions and protection of judicial wellbeing as the main priorities.
“The State of the High Court is one of progress under pressure,” Lady Justice Abodo said, urging every station to leave the retreat knowing what it must improve, sustain, stop and report on at the next review.
Leadership, Technology and Judicial Wellbeing
The retreat also featured a session on building high-performance teams facilitated by Mr Peter Kimbowa, Team Leader of CEO Summit Uganda. Through interactive exercises, he challenged judicial officers to examine how their leadership and working styles influence team performance.
Mr Kimbowa discussed the growing role of Artificial Intelligence in the legal profession and its potential to support legal research, analysis and other aspects of judicial work. He underscored the importance of understanding the technology that and using it responsibly.
Dr Paul Karungi, a Psychiatrist at Butabika Hospital, facilitated a session on judicial wellbeing. He emphasised the importance of adequate rest, consistent sleep, healthy routines and deliberate moments of relaxation in maintaining effective performance and sound decision-making.
The discussions highlighted both individual responsibility and the need for standardised institutional approaches to protecting judicial wellbeing.
In her remarks, the Chief Registrar, HW Agnes Alum, said the retreat provided an opportunity to assess performance, share best practices and identify solutions to challenges affecting the High Court.
She reaffirmed the Registry’s commitment to supporting judicial officers, although she noted that some interventions remained constrained by limited funding. She encouraged participants to prioritise their wellbeing, observing that “a healthy Judiciary is a national asset.”
HW Alum thanked the Principal Judge for her leadership and appreciated the Registrar High Court, HW Prossy Katushabe, and her team for coordinating the retreat.
The Principal Information Management Officer, Mr Joseph Ssinabulya, identified gaps in some of the reports presented. He said the omission of unallocated or unspecified cases understated courts’ caseloads and affected the accuracy of reported backlog figures.
He also noted inconsistencies between court-level statistics and individual judicial performance figures, some of which did not correspond with data generated by the case-management systems.
Presentation and discussion of performance reports from the High Court Divisions and Circuits are ongoing.
Posted 3rd, September 2026
