Ugandans trust LCs more than Police — Report

KAMPALA - Ugandans trust lower local councils (LC1 and 2) than the Police and courts of law while seeking justice, a new report has revealed. 

The survey which was carried out by Afro-Barometer, a research network, revealed that more than half of Ugandans trust LC1s to handle their cases, including human rights-related violations than other justice redress options. 

The survey was conducted between January 16 and February 2, 2025, under the title: Citizen views on justice and Human Rights.

While reviewing the findings of the survey, Francis Kibirige, the Afro-Barometer national partner, said out of the 2,400 persons who were interviewed, 56% endorsed LC1 and 2 as places where they can run to in case of any complaint as opposed to the Police. 

“Respondents were asked: Today if you felt that your human rights were being violated by any individual or institution, where would your report first to resolve the violation? And a huge percentage choose LC1 and 2,” he said. 

Only 30% said local Police would be their initial choice, while only 3% preferred going to Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) regional office first.
 
Those who would choose to go to district Police headquarters, family or friends, resident district commissioners, LC3 chairpersons and district leaders are only 1%. 

Status of judicature courts 

Half of the respondents (50%) would not go to a judicature court due to lengthy court processes. 

The index also highlighted that almost half of Ugandans (48%) believe that most court decisions are politically influenced and that 47% of the decisions favour men than women. 

It added that 41% believe court decisions are intended to favour people of a given region, while personal biases of the judicial officers contributed 31% in court decisions. 

Those who claim that court decisions favour supporters of the ruling party against opposition were 20% and 18% of the respondents alleged that court decisions largely favour some ethnic groups against others. 

According to Kibirige, 59% of respondents alleged that Ugandans are treated unequally before the law basing on the above grounds. Almost an equal percentage (60%) believe that the officials who perpetuate this inequality go unpunished. 

“It is true that going to court is not easy, and today I want to advocate for only one key thing, the set-up of the centre for arbitration and Alternative Dispute Resolution,” Charity Ahimbisibwe, the executive director at Electoral Laws Institute, said.

Judiciary corruption 

With the judges, 56% of the respondents claimed that all the judges and magistrates were corrupt, while only 47% of the sample size were inconclusive on whether all the judicial officials were corrupt or not. 

Among the issues highlighted by the index as points of frustration when it comes to people taking their disputes to court, included high costs, according to the 45% of the respondents. 

The 26% of the respondents indicated that most Ugandans cannot afford legal services since it is very expensive to afford a lawyer. 

According to the 13% of the respondents, most Ugandans do not expect fair treatment from the courts law, while the 10% believe that a number of Ugandans are discouraged from taking their complaints to formal courts with a view that they will take long. 

Hope Bagota, the senior human rights officer at UHRC used the occasion to assure Ugandans that the commission has mechanisms in place to hold state actors accountable for violation of human rights.

Police corruption 

Despite deliberate efforts by the Police to address corruption, the index disclosed that 68% of the respondents alleged that every Police officer was corrupt, while 47% had benefit of doubt with the Police when it came to corruption. 

“The index aligns well with our mandate as Police, from what has been brought out, it clearly indicates that the Police has a crucial role to play in access to justice and observance of human rights, but it also brings out the concerns about how we do execute our mandate,” said Dorothy Kyobutungi, the legal officer at the directorate of human rights and legal services in Police.