📷I will not tolerate social media insults, says Chief Justice Zeija

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Uganda's Chief Justice, Dr Flavian Zeija, has warned people attacking judicial officers on social media, saying he will not tolerate them.

He sounded the warning at the opening of the New Law Year at the Judiciary headquarters in the capital Kampala on Thursday (February 5).

“I will not allow our judges, in addition to the trauma they face while hearing cases, to suffer social media trauma. I will take action against the culprits."

Zeija's comments come barely two days after city lawyer Hassan Male Mabirizi was charged and remanded for allegedly spreading malicious information about him on his TikTok account claiming that the Chief Justice is a conman and a fraudster who allegedly sold his property to become the Principal Judge.

Attorney General Kiryowa Kiwanuka interacting with Chief Justice emeritus Alfonse Owiny-Dollo.

Zeija was appointed Chief Justice by President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni in January, succeeding the man he had deputised, Alphonse Owiny-Dollo, who retired from the top position after clocking the mandatory retirement age of 70.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, the new CJ said the Judiciary's priorities in this New Law Year include increasing accessibility to court by operationalising more courts, creating a delivery unit to monitor progress of its projects, and conducting an independent court users survey.

Chief Justice Flavian Zeija

Vice President (rtd) Maj. Jessica Alupo during the event.

Minister of Justice and constitutional affairs Norbert Mao delivering his speech.

Others are;
▪️ Giving priority to the judicial well-being as a tool for improving performance
▪️Recruitment of more judicial officers
▪️Championing legal reforms
▪️Accelerating court open days
▪️Restricting the industrial court to quick resolve labour disputes, and
▪️Enhancing the monetary jurisdiction of the magistrates’ courts to reduce the number of cases reaching the High Court.

Uniformity

In his speech read by the Vice-President Maj. (rtd) Jessica Alupo, President Yoweri Museveni urged lawyers to avoid frustrating the course of justice by playing delaying tactics and behaving unprofessionally, which he argues contributes to case backlog. 

Museveni argues that desisting from playing delaying tactics will help the courts resolve the disputes expeditiously.

The Judiciary, a key arm of the government, is faced with a caseload of 167,353 unresolved cases, with 46,542 of them categorised as backlog having spent more than two years in the judicial system. 

Attorney General Kiryowa Kiwanuka, who also doubles as the head of the bar (lawyers), called for uniformity in court decisions, awards and sentences in addition to timely disposal of cases and judgment delivery.

Following the institutionalisation of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) by the Judiciary, Kiryowa promised to fast-track the national policy on ADR by ensuring adoption of the Singapore Convention on mediation.

In regard to the current bickering between the Uganda Law Society (ULS) and the Judiciary, the AG promised to ensure that both institutions mend their relationship, given that dispensation of justice is a shared responsibility between them.

Justice minister Norbert Mao commended the Judiciary for embracing ADR, saying it is a game-changer in the administration of justice.

Typically, the New Law Year marks the formal opening of the Judiciary's working calendar.

It serves as a platform for the Judiciary to report on its performance, achievements and challenges from the previous year while outlining the roadmap for the new year.