Karuhanga reasoned that courts are grappling with case backlog due to limited judicial officers yet there are many senior lawyers who can be appointed temporarily to act as judges or magistrates for mission-based hearings.
Elison Karuhanga, one of the lawyers aspiring to represent the Uganda Law Society (ULS) on the Judicial Service
Commission has proposed the appointment of lawyers for temporary judicial
assignments to addresses rising case backlogs in Courts.
Karuhanga reasoned that courts
are grappling with case backlog due to limited judicial officers yet there are
many senior lawyers who can be appointed temporarily to act as judges or
magistrates for mission-based hearings.
Speaking to Journalists in Gulu
City Friday, Karuhanga said the demand for justice has currently outstripped
the court’s ability to supply justice and called for honest discussions on how
the challenges can be resolved.
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Karuhanga is among the 14 nominees
unveiled last year by the Uganda Law Society to vie for representing
ULS on the Judicial Service Commission that is mandated to among others appoint confirm and promote Judicial officers to
various Magisterial positions.
Outlining his main interests for
the position, Karuhanga said there is an urgent need to address pertinent matters
in the Judiciary among them judicial appointments, corruption, and delayed
delivery of justice.
Pointing out at Judicial
recruitment particularly, Karuhanga suggested the need to have a more transparent
and strengthened process of appointing judicial officers. He added that stringent
measures have to be put in place to curb corruption which has grave effects on
dispensation of justice to Ugandans.
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ULS members were scheduled to
elect two nominees for the Judicial Service Commission position on December 17 last
year during its Extra Ordinary General Meeting.
Justice Musa Ssekaana however on
December 13th blocked the Extra Ordinary Annual General Meeting for the lawyers
following an application filed by Hashim Mugisha Mugisha, an aggrieved member
of ULS challenging the legality of the meeting and manner in which the posts
that were to be filled fell vacant.
Karuhanga however over the weekend said the injunction is temporary and showed optimism
that they will have a fair representation in the Judicial Service Commission.
“The court order is temporary
in every sense, and we shall reach a time when membership of the law
society will be selecting its nominees to send to the president,” he said.
The judiciary 4th Annual
Performance Report for the Financial Year 2023/24 launched in October last year
highlighted corruption, bribery and understaffing as major concerns within the
Judiciary that affect performance and contributes to case backlog.
The report however revealed the
Judiciary’s significant achievement in completing 239,431 cases out of a total
caseload of 401,269. Delayed adjudication of cases and case backlog accounted
for 26.3 percent of the pending caseload, with 42,588 cases classified as
backlog, according to the report.