Gov’t asked to appoint ad hoc judges to address case backlog

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The government should appoint ad-hoc judges to address the challenge of case backlog.

According to a report released by World Voices Uganda, a not for profit organization with support from the Democratic Governance Facility- DGF, about 80 percent of Ugandans lack access to formal justice system.

In a report titled, ‘Baseline Mapping of Justice needs and existing justice structures in the delivery of access to justice,’ many people attribute this to the high costs of hiring lawyers, courts of judicature being only in a few areas and political interference among others.

Gard Benda, the country director of World Voice said the government should embrace the idea of appointing ad hoc judges to deal with cases as of when they arise. This he said will go a long way in relieving the judicial system that is suffering under the weight of case backlog.

Benda said that the informal justice system where the village or the clan majority people go to resolve their cases need to be strengthened so that their decisions are acceptable in the formal justice system.

“The decision from the informal justice system should be registered as consent judgments so that when one wants to challenge them, there is somewhere to begin from,” Benda said.

Theodora Bitaline, the vice-chairperson of World Voices said that although it’s important to promote the informal justice system, it can’t replace the court system because some cases can only be handled by the formal justice system alone.

******

URN