Hon. Justice Buteera speaking at validation meeting for the case backlog reduction report
Kampala. Friday April 21, 2017 was a special day on the Judiciary Calendar. It was validation meeting day for judges and other key JLOS actors to consider the case backlog committee report that was handed over to the CJ on the 29th March 2017.
The objective of the meeting was to validate the committee findings in the report as well as the case backlog reduction and elimination strategy.
Speaking at the validation exercise, Chief Justice Hon. Justice Bart Katureebe said it's time for judicial officers who do not perform to the expectations to find their way out before they are forced out."Really how can you sit on a judgment for three years?" he asked.He added that although case backlog is not only a Ugandan problem, it should not be tolerated.
During the plenary, the Inspector General of Government (IGG) Hon. Lady Justice Irene Mulyagonja called for an overall assessment on the management of the judiciary, as a measure to fight case backlog. Mulyagonja said case backlog is a manifestation of a problem in the entire judiciary. "Judiciary has been here for a long time but have you ever done an overall assessment in its management?The whole system needs to be reviewed," Hon. Lady Justice Mulyagonja said.
She suggested that issuance of interim orders should be revised as it slows cases especially at the Court of Appeal and Constitutional Courts. " Once an interim order is granted, matters stall and others die," she explained.
Reactions
Hon. Justice Lawrence Gidudu, head of the Anti-Corruption Division of the High Court said even if the number of judges is increased without setting a performance tool, case backlog would remain a problem. " If we manage courts in a business manner where we have an eye on costs and manipulation of inputs over outputs, we shall continue singing case backlog," Hon. Justice Gidudu said.
Hon. Justice Kenneth Kakuru of Court of Appeal/Constitutional Court accused his fellow judges of not working but instead read newspapers, a situation he said leads to case backlog.
"The ones who work are punished. Somebody is in Criminal Division finishes his entire backlog and somebody in Civil has done nothing. The one in Criminal is transferred to Civil to deal with the backlog. The one who created the backlog is transferred to the division where the backlog was cleared and now creates anew backlog." Hon. Justice Kakuru added amidst cheers from fellow judges.
Adding:"The ones who work are punished and those who don't work are promoted and you wonder what the rationale is. Lets us keep time and work."
Bruce Kyerere, former Uganda Law Society President, said if judicial officers do not change their attitude towards work, we are more likely not to move very far in fighting case backlog.
He said there is need to advocate for proper independence of the judiciary including managing our resources.
Hon. Justice Remmy Kasule of the Court of Appeal/Constitutional Court in his submission cited disconnection among fellow judges as the cause of case backlog mainly in appellate courts since these courts work by way of panels.
He explained that team work is needed in appellate courts since the judges there sit in panels unlike in lower courts where it's mainly a single judge or magistrate who can wholly determine their own case.
"A tan appellate court where you have to deal with colleagues, what happens if there is a disconnect between the team that has handled a particular appeal.This matter of disconnect needs to be addressed," Justice Kasule said.
Hon. Lady Justice Margaret Mutonyi, the resident Mukono High Court judge said there is too much work and that even if they sat from Monday to Saturday, they can't clear the case backlog that they are struggling with. She suggested that they can recruit temporary judges to help in clearing the backlog.
Her views were shared by Hon. Justice Alfonse Owinyi-Dollo, Justice of Court of Appeal/Constitutional Court who said it is not humanly possible to deal away with the case backlog. "We can only humanely do so much and we take care of areas where we need training and then address Parliament, address the Executive."
The Inspector of Courts, Mr. Tadeo Asiimwe cited mistrust of some judges with their registrars as being the cause of the case backlog.
He explained that some judges grip onto hearing simple applications for interim orders instead of concentrating on hearing the man cases.
"A judge is expected to hear the main case but a judge sits from morning to evening to pass an order which is similar to what the registrar issued, why?,this registrar is capable for heaven's sake. So this mistrust is wrong, we have registrars who competent and are even aspiring to become judges and can handle the applications," he said.
Hon. Lady Justice Patricia Basaza Wasswa, a Judge of the Civil Division of the High Court decried employment of junior assistants whom she said have no capacity to advise them as judges.
Hon. Justice John Eudes Keitirima, resident Judge Masaka High Court recommended that the given case backlog should be assessed and a number of judges appointed who can match up the existing case backlog.
Case backlog reduction strategy
Hon.Justice Richard Buteera, the chairperson of the case backlog reduction committee, said they have recommended to the Chief Justice to direct all judicial officers with pending judgments beyond 60 days by April 30th, 2017 to deliver them by May 30th, 2017.
"After May 30th, 2017 all judicial officers with pending judgments beyond 60 days should be given a defined time to concentrate only on writing the pending judgments without taking up new cases," he said.
He said they have endorsed judicial officers to prioritize disposal of older cases within a period of two months.
"Judicial officers that have three months to retire should only take up new cases in a limited number so that the deliver pending judgments within three months after their retirement," he said.
Hon.Justice Buteera said the Judiciary should develop an ageing case list to be updated annually and time limits within which court matters should be disposed developed. On corrupt judicial officers, he said the Judiciary and JSC should ensure that proper and timely investigations are carried out on complaints against judicial officers and action be taken expeditiously.
The committee also resolved that each court level should develop and implement a case backlog clearance plan within three months.
Hon.Justice Buteera said the case backlog reduction committee would continue to monitor and supervise the disposal of case backlog in all courts of judicature.
Background
In December 2015, a Court Case Census committee led Hon. Justice Henry Peter Adonyo, established that there was a backlog of 114,809 cases in the Judiciary. Of these, 968 had been in the system for more than 10 years.
Among the tasks that the Hon. Justice Buteera committee had was to; identify the extent of the case backlog, identify and document the causes of the backlog,review current efforts to reduce the case backlog and make recommendations to address the existing backlog and stop the growth of a new backlog.
Posted 24th, April 2017
