Judges are stressed â€" Tabaro
Sep 20, 2007
Many judges are falling sick due to stress as a result of the enormous work load.
By Anne Mugisa
Many judges are falling sick due to stress as a result of the enormous work load.
Not less than six judges are currently ill and being treated in hospitals both in Uganda and abroad, Justice Patrick Tabaro of the High Court said yesterday.
He said he had suffered two strokes and at one time he was confined in a wheel chair.
Tabaro was yesterday presenting a paper on the backlog of cases in the courts at the Makerere Law Society annual law conference.
He said the work load was so great that it had impacted on judges’ productivity and health.
“People are accusing judges of being lazy but there is no such thing as lazy judges. Now six judges are perpetually sick being attended to here and abroad and the reason for their sickness is stress. There is too much work and you virtually collapse,†he said.
He noted that the Government was partly to blame for the case backlog because it had failed to appoint more judges.
The problem, he said, had become worse in the last 10 years.
He said that by December last year, the Supreme Court had 64 pending cases which could not be heard because of lack of quorum.
He said the pending cases in the Court of Appeal stood at 1,553, while those in the High Court were 6,010 pending civil cases and 994 criminal suits.
“Even if a judge were to decide two cases a week for a year without having a break, he would need six years to exhaust their share of the pending cases,†Tabaro said.
The judge noted that state attorneys were also stressed and a number of them suffered ill health due the bulk of cases.
The President of the Uganda Law Society, Oscar Kihika, said everybody in the legal system should take the blame for the crisis in the Judiciary.
He said lawyers in private practice take untenable cases to court for monetary gain instead of advising clients otherwise.
The Deputy Director of Public prosecutions, Byabakama Mugenyi, also blamed lawyers.
Many judges are falling sick due to stress as a result of the enormous work load.
Not less than six judges are currently ill and being treated in hospitals both in Uganda and abroad, Justice Patrick Tabaro of the High Court said yesterday.
He said he had suffered two strokes and at one time he was confined in a wheel chair.
Tabaro was yesterday presenting a paper on the backlog of cases in the courts at the Makerere Law Society annual law conference.
He said the work load was so great that it had impacted on judges’ productivity and health.
“People are accusing judges of being lazy but there is no such thing as lazy judges. Now six judges are perpetually sick being attended to here and abroad and the reason for their sickness is stress. There is too much work and you virtually collapse,†he said.
He noted that the Government was partly to blame for the case backlog because it had failed to appoint more judges.
The problem, he said, had become worse in the last 10 years.
He said that by December last year, the Supreme Court had 64 pending cases which could not be heard because of lack of quorum.
He said the pending cases in the Court of Appeal stood at 1,553, while those in the High Court were 6,010 pending civil cases and 994 criminal suits.
“Even if a judge were to decide two cases a week for a year without having a break, he would need six years to exhaust their share of the pending cases,†Tabaro said.
The judge noted that state attorneys were also stressed and a number of them suffered ill health due the bulk of cases.
The President of the Uganda Law Society, Oscar Kihika, said everybody in the legal system should take the blame for the crisis in the Judiciary.
He said lawyers in private practice take untenable cases to court for monetary gain instead of advising clients otherwise.
The Deputy Director of Public prosecutions, Byabakama Mugenyi, also blamed lawyers.