Judiciary understaffed, defilement cases pile up
Dec 01, 2004
This week the Justice, Law and Order Sector held a semi-annual joint Government of Uganda-Donor Review.
By Chibita wa Duallo
This week the Justice, Law and Order Sector held a semi-annual joint Government of Uganda-Donor Review.
The Sector is a grouping of different departments that play a central role in the administration of justice. The Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, is the lead ministry. Other departments include the Judiciary, Police, Prisons, Directorate of Public Prosecutions, Immigration and Judicial Service Commission.
The development partners supporting this sector include Austria, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, USA, UK, Sweden, European Union and the World Bank. The sector is in its fourth year of implementation and aims at improving service delivery and increasing access to justice particularly for the poor and other vulnerable groups.
The review heard about the progress that has so far been made and also the areas that still need more work.
The issue of case backlog was highlighted as a sore point in the drive towards swifter administration of justice. Yet case backlog seemed to be taking on a new meaning.
Previously, case backlog referred to the piling up of old unheard cases. It was therefore not uncommon to find cases as old as 10 years still clogging the justice system. It was agreed that these old cases have successfully been weeded out over time.
The new backlog however now comprises of fresh cases that are pending hearing but the workload per judge cannot allow speedy disposal of the cases.
This eventually leads to the issue of the capacity of the bench to effectively handle the volume of cases that have grown exponentially since the rule of law got a new lease of life. The number of judicial officers is not enough to handle the increased volume of work.
Indeed the Chief Justice, in his speech, reminded the review meeting that Government had, by resolution of Parliament, increased the number of Judges for the High Court to 50.
He had accordingly issued a Statutory Instrument increasing the brief High Court Circuit from seven to 12. He complained though that he still has only 33 judges in post.
That is why the Minister of Justices announcement that five more new judges were in the process of being recruited was welcome news. The minister assured the meeting that the recruitment process was in advanced stages. Some names of the five have already come out in the press.
After recruitment however, is the next hurdle of ensuring that those recruited are retained to provide the services that they were recruited to offer.
Of course retention of staff is closely tied up with terms of service. The review heard from speaker after speaker how the poor remuneration of staff in the departments that comprise the Sector has made it impossible to retain quality staff.
The turnover of staff is quite high and this factor makes it difficult to make steady progress.
The number of inmates on remand was another factor that was highlighted as bogging the sector down and contributing in giving it a bad name.
Studies have also been done and it has been found that most of the remand prisoners are men charged with defilement.
Defilement being a capital offence is only triable by the High Court. Since the High Court judges are already inundated with the new backlog, the numerous cases of defilement can only make their nightmare worse.
The review heard that three Bills pending before Parliament should be able to address this problem, at least partially. The Domestic Relations Bill, The sexual offences Bill and another to declassify defilement as a capital offence and therefore allow Chief Magistrates to hear defilement cases are in various stages of discussion.
At the end of the two-day review the meeting should be able to come up with resolutions for improvement. Slowly but steadily, the Sector is hopes to achieve its mission of enabling all to live in a safe and just society.
This week the Justice, Law and Order Sector held a semi-annual joint Government of Uganda-Donor Review.
The Sector is a grouping of different departments that play a central role in the administration of justice. The Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, is the lead ministry. Other departments include the Judiciary, Police, Prisons, Directorate of Public Prosecutions, Immigration and Judicial Service Commission.
The development partners supporting this sector include Austria, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, USA, UK, Sweden, European Union and the World Bank. The sector is in its fourth year of implementation and aims at improving service delivery and increasing access to justice particularly for the poor and other vulnerable groups.
The review heard about the progress that has so far been made and also the areas that still need more work.
The issue of case backlog was highlighted as a sore point in the drive towards swifter administration of justice. Yet case backlog seemed to be taking on a new meaning.
Previously, case backlog referred to the piling up of old unheard cases. It was therefore not uncommon to find cases as old as 10 years still clogging the justice system. It was agreed that these old cases have successfully been weeded out over time.
The new backlog however now comprises of fresh cases that are pending hearing but the workload per judge cannot allow speedy disposal of the cases.
This eventually leads to the issue of the capacity of the bench to effectively handle the volume of cases that have grown exponentially since the rule of law got a new lease of life. The number of judicial officers is not enough to handle the increased volume of work.
Indeed the Chief Justice, in his speech, reminded the review meeting that Government had, by resolution of Parliament, increased the number of Judges for the High Court to 50.
He had accordingly issued a Statutory Instrument increasing the brief High Court Circuit from seven to 12. He complained though that he still has only 33 judges in post.
That is why the Minister of Justices announcement that five more new judges were in the process of being recruited was welcome news. The minister assured the meeting that the recruitment process was in advanced stages. Some names of the five have already come out in the press.
After recruitment however, is the next hurdle of ensuring that those recruited are retained to provide the services that they were recruited to offer.
Of course retention of staff is closely tied up with terms of service. The review heard from speaker after speaker how the poor remuneration of staff in the departments that comprise the Sector has made it impossible to retain quality staff.
The turnover of staff is quite high and this factor makes it difficult to make steady progress.
The number of inmates on remand was another factor that was highlighted as bogging the sector down and contributing in giving it a bad name.
Studies have also been done and it has been found that most of the remand prisoners are men charged with defilement.
Defilement being a capital offence is only triable by the High Court. Since the High Court judges are already inundated with the new backlog, the numerous cases of defilement can only make their nightmare worse.
The review heard that three Bills pending before Parliament should be able to address this problem, at least partially. The Domestic Relations Bill, The sexual offences Bill and another to declassify defilement as a capital offence and therefore allow Chief Magistrates to hear defilement cases are in various stages of discussion.
At the end of the two-day review the meeting should be able to come up with resolutions for improvement. Slowly but steadily, the Sector is hopes to achieve its mission of enabling all to live in a safe and just society.