Judiciary asked to support LC Courts

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Jinja High Court judge, Justice Michael Elubu has asked the judiciary to support Local Council courts to solve disputes which will reduce case backlog.

Speaking at the Iganga magistrate’s court open day in Iganga district on Thursday, Elubu argues that since village councils were fully instituted and their decisions are recognized by law, they are free to settle disputes outside court.

Elubu further called upon the Justice and Constitutional Affairs Ministry to introduce short law courses for village chairpersons. He says that the courses will increase their knowledge on the operations of the village courts.

Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister, Kahinda Otafiire, cautioned the village chairpersons to be impartial while handling disputes.

“Village chairpersons are great partners in the justice sector because, most people are satisfied when judgement is delivered by their peers who understand them, compared to these magistrates, but I charge all the village chairpersons to dispense justice equally to all persons irrespective of their stake in society,” he said.

Otafiire adds that “the only thing which distances locals from the village courts is corruption, but if the LCs stop asking for bribes, they will earn public trust and all these trivial matters which contribute to case backlog will be handled at that level,”.

Katuntu however said that failure for Bagyenda to appear on Monday as requested would result to an arrest warrant being issued.

Bagyenda’s presence before the committee is crucial according to Katuntu who has steered committee proceedings that have lately been unsuccessful in obtaining key progressive reports on the liquidation of assets of closed banks.