Fort Portal High Court Holds Court Open Day
Hon. Justice Katureebe with Tooro Princess,HRH Bagaya at the Fort Portal court open day
Fort Portal: Justice Law and Order stakeholders in Fort Portal held a Court Open Day at Booma Grounds on August 14, 2017.
The day which was held under the theme: "Equal Access to Justice: A Collective Responsibility" was presided over by the Chief Justice, Hon. Justice Bart M. Katureebe.
The Chief Justice decried the high number of remand prisoners at Katojo Prison. He said, "There are 1,252 inmates in Katojo Prison. Of this number, 839 are on remand."
He added that the CaseBacklog Reduction Committee was constituted to investigate why cases areaccumulating in courts of law without being concluded.
The Case Backlog Reduction Report released showed that as at January 31, 2017, there were 53,400 cases pending in the High Court. Of these, Fort Portal High Court contributed 1,012 cases.
The Fort Portal Resident District Commissioner, Mr. Steven Asiimwe said the delay to conclude the cases in the courts of law has resulted in mob action most especially on land cases that take long to get concluded.
During the plenary, theChief Justice said the courts had started on a computerized court filing systemto address the problem of missing case files.
This was after Ms. Suzan Katusabe; a resident of Rwengoma B Village in Fort Portal told Hon. Justice Katureebe that her case has remained pending for seven months because the case file could not be traced. Ms. Katusabe explained that whenever she goes to court, she is told that the case file is still being traced.
"The Ministry of Finance has given us six billion shillings to computerize the courts. Disappearing of cases files in courts will be history in the next two to three years. We are going to embark on computerizing the courts," Hon. Justice Katureebe said.
The e-filing system will be piloted in 12 courtsand later spread to all courts in the country.
During the ceremony, several members of the public raised concerns on delayed administration of justice, illegal evictions on land, conduct of court bailiffs and extortion of money by court staff.
About Court Open Days
Court Open Days are platforms for the Courts and the different Justice Law and Order Sector players to sensitize the public about access to justice and the operations of courts of law.
It is also a day that court users and the general public give feedback on the different services provided at the court.
Posted 15th, August 2017
