Hon. Justice Okwanga (out going Resident Judge , Gulu), Hon. Lady Justice Arach - JSC (Chairperson -JTC) and Hon. Justice Chibita (DPP) at Gulu main prison
GULU: At least 640 inmates at Gulu Prison have enrolled for the Plea Bargain programme at Gulu Main Prison.
Of these, 140 files are set to be handled during the two-day ongoing Hands-on Plea Bargain training at Gulu Prison.
Supreme Court's Hon. Lady Justice Stella Arach-Amoko, who doubles as the Chairperson of the Judicial Training Committee, flagged off the training session.
She told stakeholders at the Prison that the sensitization was to enlighten the inmates of their rights and to equip the prosecution and defense lawyers on howto conduct plea bargains.
She thanked the inmates for embracing the programme and urged them to seek legal counsel from the experts at the facility.
Hon.Lady Justice Arach reassured the accused persons that all the 640 enlisted accused persons will be attended to.
According to the Officer in Charge of Gulu Main Prison, Mr Emmanuel Muchunguzi, nearly 80 per cent of the committals at the facility have expressed willingness to plea bargain.
"...there are 1,160 inmates, of these 804 are committals. Of the 804, at least 640 are ready to plea bargain."
He added that the awareness campaign has yielded a lot of fruits in Gulu and that what is left is left is availability of funds to conduct sessions.
The outgoing Gulu Resident Judge, Hon. Justice Vincent Okwanga, said the programme will help reduce backlog at the circuit. "We shall complete more cases in a short time yet at minimum cost."
Prof.Jim Gash, the program manager of the relationship between Pepperdine University and the Justice, Law and Order Sector, said the University is committed to assisting Uganda in formulating its own Plea Bargain approach.
The Director of Public Prosecution, Hon. Justice Mike Chibita, said plea bargain is one of the answers to challenges in adjudication and prosecution of criminal matters.
Since its inception in 2014, more than 12,000 matters have so far been successfully handled through Plea Bargain. Only one of those has been appealed.
Judicial officers at Gulu High Court as well as a team of government and defense lawyers are taking part. Students from Uganda Christian University and Gulu University as well as Pepperdine University are also taking part.
A similar exercise will be conducted in Masindi and Hoima High Court Circuits.
Posted 14th, June 2018
