The Judiciary has confirmed the first-ever National Court Open Day slated for April 15th, 2024 at Kololo Independence Grounds.
The day is to interact with the public regarding strategies the justice system needs to implement to eliminate case backlog.
According to the Judiciary Public Relations Officer James Jumire Ereemye Mawanda, it is also intended to promote sensitization highlighting the services the Judiciary offers.
It will also aim at emphasizing mechanisms being re-engineered to improve service delivery and receiving feedback from the public to get areas of improvement from the public.
All stakeholders in the Justice system including the public, police, prisons, Prosecutors, and lawyers will meet and interact with the public such that they can understand their role in the chain of the court system and processes.
Mawanda stated that the Judiciary is making accountability and it will meet Court users to be able to obtain feedback from them as well as aim at further strengthening the independence of the Judiciary enshrined in the Constitution.
Addressing the media on Thursday at the Judiciary Headquarters in Kampala, Mawanda indicated that for this to be done effectively, the Judiciary has been conducting Court open days in various places across the country.
However, given the feedback obtained from the ground to places they have been, Mawanda said the Judiciary found it fit that the same should be extended to a bigger group of the public by having a national Court open day such that different courts can showcase what they do to the people.
As such, he said the Court of Appeal, Supreme Court, High Court and all its Divisions in Kampala, the Inspectorate of Courts which handles matters of compliance, and quality assurance, the Judicial Training Institute, and Magistrates Courts in Kampala will showcase the different services they offer in their jurisdictions.
The Judiciary has been faced with negative information that affects its image such as statements that a poor person cannot win a case and they now want to boost their image by engaging the public to enable them to execute their plan as they meet the public expectations as well.
“The Public will freely interact with the Judiciary as a way of demystifying and getting feedback. It will help the Judiciary understand the kind of justice the public wants and it will also help them participate in decision-making processes,” said Mawanda.
The National Court Open Day is brought under the theme, of a people Centered Approach to Justice.
The Secretary of the Organizing Committee for the National Court Open Day, the High Court Registrar Mary Keitesi said that the Courts which will be participating will not have business that day, however, all the registries will be open for court users who want to file new cases and to get new dates for their cases.
She highlighted the program of the day adding that the public will be also allowed to ask questions to various people and stakeholders in the Justice sector who will be available to provide answers for the whole day-long event.
Keitesi the research Planning and Development Registrar said people will depart at leisure because many people will remain behind to continue interacting with the exhibitors even when the official function ends.
Several materials such as leaflets, literature, and magazines talking about the administration process will be distributed to those who attend to be informed and not to be duped about the way the Judiciary operates.
The National Court Open Day event will be presided over by Chief Justice Alfonse Owiny-Dollo and other Top leadership of the Judiciary.
The Organizers have also told Our Reporter that the general output from the event is that public trust and confidence in the Judiciary is enhanced.
The Organizers have also indicated that sometimes people paint a bad image of the Judiciary and now, the Judiciary will get an opportunity to strengthen the partnership between state and non-state actors as they create more public awareness regarding their services.
According to the Annual Performance Report of the Judiciary for 2023, the judiciary had a case backlog of 43,617 cases that have been in the system for many years. A case is considered backlog in Uganda when it has spent more than two years in the court system without being concluded.
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