Judges warned against under-performance as case backlog increases

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT  |  The Principal Judge, Dr Flavian Zeija has warned under performing Judges proposing that they should not get remuneration citing that the case backlog in 2019 has increased by 88 percent. 

Dr Zeija made the remarks on Monday afternoon while presenting the annual performance report for the various High Court Circuits at the 22nd Annual Judges Conference at Mestil Hotel in Kampala.

The theme of the Conference, “Discharging the Mandate of the Judiciary: Towards a Modern, Professional  and Effective Judiciary.” 

While presenting the report at the conference, the Principal Judge observed that the Judiciary has continued to struggle with a growing backlog of cases with a total of 36,009 cases in 2019 which implies that there has been an increase by 88 percent in the previous two years. 

He explained that at the Land Division of High Court, the backlog remains at 5681 with only five Judges at that court, Anti-corruption court 61, Commercial Court 1766, Criminal Division 1,276,  Civil  Division 1,364  Execution and Bailiffs 2,832, Family Division 2,705. He said the International Crimes Division has the least number of backlog standing at 33 cases.

Dr Zeija attributed the increased case backlog to shortage of enough man power and lazy Judges saying some of them even spend an entire month without delivering a single judgement.  He explained that such Judges are equivalent to thieves since they get paid for the services they never deliver to citizens while making their colleagues to  work more.  

The Deputy Chief Justice Alfonse Owiny Dollo who represented the performance of the Court of Appeal which also doubles as the constitutional court, reported that they have been able to dispose off 1,421 cases up from 1,218  disposed off in 2018.  

Although the performance  is better than that of  the previous year, the Deputy Chief Justice states that if they can have the number of Court of Appeal Judges increased to 30 from the current 13, he is assured that no case would even last for more than a year in their Judicial system.  

Owiny Dollo has also attributed the success in disposing off cases to having some special sessions to clear backlog which he said that last year alone, over ten special various sessions were conducted. 

According to a report presented by the Supreme Court Judge, Dr Esther Kisaakye, in  2019 they disposed a total of 111 matters out of 172 which were registered.  

Earlier, the New York retired Judge Frank Labuda who was the key note Speaker advised the Judges that if they are to achieve the proposed theme, the Judiciary should aim at having paperless litigation, electronic filing of cases by embracing new technology and  put in place specialized courts for cases like Domestic violence.

He also noted that if Ugandans are to have confidence in the Justice system, there should be a mechanism to have a reasonable time line within which to hear and resolve cases so that people get speedy justice.

******

URN