MPs caution judges on high backlog of cases

Sep 15, 2015

Members of Parliament have advised judges to undertake immediate interventions to reduce the high backlog of cases.


By Paul Kiwuuwa & Moses Mulondo             

Members of Parliament have advised judges to undertake immediate interventions to reduce the high backlog of cases.

The Parliament Appointments committee raised the concern on Monday while vetting the new judges of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal.

The legislators also tasked the judges to combat the increasing cases of corruption, loss of case files, and lack of supervision to the lower courts in Uganda's judiciary.

"Corruption and backlog of cases were the major issues of concern during the vetting meeting," revealed one of the MPs who preferred anonymity.

Sources further revealed that Justice Alphose Owiny Dollo was questioned on the number of cases he has handled to which he said he was caught off-guard.

According to  a senior communication officer of the judiciary, Solomon Muyita,  the current total number of back log cases is 32,871. Of these, High Court has 21,000 civil cases  and 8,000 capital cases, pending hearing. The Court of Appeal has got 3,598 cases; the Constitutional Court has 203 cases and 70 for the Supreme Court.




 

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