RACHEAL NINSIIMA
A
report by the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative has found that the court
case backlog has gone up again for the third year running, despite initiatives
to deal with the problem.
The
annual report titled; ‘The right to a
fair trial – Next steps’ found that the case backlog had gone up from
156,705 cases in 2011 to 161,071 in 2012, an increment of 4,366. This case backlog refers to cases that have
been in the system for more than two years.
The
report attributes this increase to several factors, among them the shortage of
staff in the judiciary.
“A
shortage of judicial officers and state attorneys is a major hindrance to
effective access to justice in Uganda. For example the Supreme Court can’t
conduct business since there are only six justices instead of 11. The court of
appeal has seven justices instead of 15, to deal with about 3,000 cases. The
High Court has only 45 judges instead of 80, yet some are serving outside the
country,” the report reads.
The
deficit contributed to long detentions and remand that saw 3,788inmates on
committal – awaiting a hearing, as at March 31, 2012.
The
FHRI report also shows that state attorneys are also in short supply - there
are 172 state attorneys instead of 209, leaving a gap of 37 state attorneys.
Although
the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) recruits 30 state attorneys every
year, the demand for state attorneys has exceeded supply as more districts come
into effect. For instance Moroto has only one who is also rarely available –
leading to delays in sanctioning files for prosecution.
The
report quotes George Engena, a state attorney in Gulu, lamenting; “Sometimes
state attorneys like us are few when the magistrates are many. You find 10
cases have gone before a magistrate and there is no state attorney so they keep
adjourning. So those cases keep on piling.”
Inmates
are also often made to wait the whole day at court, due to irregular reporting
times of judicial officers, and in some cases are sent back to prison without
having their cases heard.
As
if this was not bad enough, corruption also continues to rear its face in the
judiciary, and is largely responsible for the denial of bail, according to many
inmates – who blame their long stay on remand on the inability to bribe a
magistrate.
But
Erias Kisawuzi, the judiciary spokesman, says they are continuing to fight the
vice. “Five magistrates were charged and two convicted in the last two years,”
he said.
The
Army court martial is also notorious for long stays on remand.
Quoting
Avocates sans Frontiers, the report notes
that 32% of prisoners were illegally detained and 58% of these cases were before
the court martial. They had all exceeded the statutory period. Article 23 of
the Constitution emphasises that those facing non capital offences shall be
released after 60 days, while those on capital offenses must be released after
180days.
The
report also cites inadequacies in the police’s investigative ability for delays
in prosecutions. Of the 40,000 police officers on
the payroll, there are only 20 gazetted forensic experts, a ratio of 1 expert
for 825 Ugandans compared to the global standard of 1:450.
“Arrests by plain clothed
officers often lead to further infringement that relate to the right to fair
trial such as being detained for prolonged periods of time before being brought
to court,” Livingstone Sewanyana, Executive Director of FHRI says.
To mitigate these challenges the Justice,
Law and Order Sector (JLOS) supported the judiciary in reducing the stay on
remand from five years in 2010 to less than one year in 2012. Pre-trial
detainees have reduced from over 70% to 53%.
To
register more success in promoting the right to a fair trial, Principal Judge Hon
Justice Yorokamu Bamwine has called for continued dissemination of findings in
order to raise awareness in the legal fraternity.
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