KAMPALA – The judiciary started its 22nd annual Judges’ conference at Mestil hotel in Kampala on Monday.
The conference under the theme “Discharging the mandate of the judiciary: Towards modern, professional and effective judiciary “, is expected to run from 27-30 January 2020.
With opening remarks, Retired Justice Frank Labuda, the Guest Speaker from the United States, discussed a number of measures that have helped the American judiciary to perform better. These measures, he discussed with Ugandan judicial officers.
“One of the means to reduce case backlog in the American judicial system, anybody arrested of any capital offense must be tried within a six months period, after which a judicial officer is given sixty days to write his judgment.”Said Frank.
In regards to technological development, Frank asked the Ugandan judiciary to embrace a paperless trial where everything is done online, installation of computers, video screens and modern sound equipment to ease judicial officers’ workload.
Commissioner Norah Winyi of Judicial Service Commission asked all judges to be sure to address the issue of delayed judgments and rulings because it’s the most common issue that has been brought to the table.
As the conference goes on, a lot is expected to be discussed including sharing of experiences, best practices in addressing the gaps in the judicial system as well as raising possible resolutions to address the challenges and gaps identified.
More to that, the conference will further focus on strengthening the role of judicial officers in the administration and management of court registries, registry staff, data and physical files for better judicial services.
The conference will still be going till Thursday to discuss the sector’s annual achievements and challenges of 2019 plus the way forward in 2020.
