Key players in Criminal Justice system meet to improve service delivery

On Tuesday, the Principal Judge, Dr Flavian Zeija, chaired the Criminal Justice Stakeholder meeting at the Judiciary Headquarters, Kampala.

The purpose of the meeting was to review the progress of the Daily Hearings initiative and how it is taking shape at the Division, hear from the various stakeholders in regards to the success and challenges of the initiative and chat a way forward.

The Principal Judge noted that over time, the Judiciary has been coming up with various innovations to administer timely justice to all court users and in this regard, Daily Hearings of criminal cases is one of those innovations to counter the challenges posed by over reliance on sessions in the hearing and disposal of criminal cases at High Court level.

He added that the general objective of daily hearing of criminal cases at the High Court Criminal Division was to promote efficiency and effectiveness of case disposal with a view of reducing the lead times effective for an efficient criminal justice system.

The Head of the Criminal Division, Justice Michael Elubu, made a presentation on the daily hearing project and gave updates on how it is running.
Present at the meeting were Justice Isaac Muwata, Lady Justice Margaret Mutonyi, Chief Registrar HW Sarah Langa Siu, Registrars; HW Rosemary Bareebe(Registrar High Court), HW Mary and Kaitesi(Registrar Research, Planning and Development).

In attendance; Mr George William Byansi, Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions, Prof Andrew Khaukha(Judiciary Technical Advisor), Ms Lucy Ladira(Advisor, Criminal Justice, Governance, Peace and Security Secretariat).

Also participating in the meeting were actors in the criminal justice system including Advocates, representatives of the Uganda Police Force, Uganda Prisons Services, Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, and Assessors.

The two-year trial period of the Daily Hearing Project that started in January 2022 is expected to elapse in January 2024.