Lawyers practising in the Masaka sub-region have laid down their tools in protest over the Judiciary’s failure to deploy more judges to the area, leaving thousands of cases unresolved.
According to the Masaka Lawyers Association, only one High court judge is available to handle a backlog of 4,290 cases across the circuit’s nine districts. Factoring in weekends, court recess, public holidays, and leave days, a judge has roughly 198 working days in a year. Even at the improbable pace of five trials a day, it would take more than 22 years to clear the current caseload.
Alexander Lule, chairperson of the Masaka Lawyers Association, said the sit-down strike is aimed at expressing their frustration with what he called the Judiciary’s indifference.
“We have written to the principal judge, we met him last year. Personally, I handed him the petition, petitioning another judge or other judges. He promised to give us other judges, but up to date, we have not gotten one. We’re saying enough is enough, we’re not going to go to court anymore, until when they give us other judges,” Lule said.
“We’re sorry to our clients and other court users, plus the judicial officers who are working hard to ensure that they deliver justice, but we’re seeing that justice is not enough. People are not getting justice. We should serve justice, and it should be seen being served.”
Lule said the circuit requires at least three High court judges and two registrars to handle the case load effectively. He blamed the shortage for the prolonged detention of suspects on remand, which he said is a violation of the principle of expeditious justice.
The lawyers have also petitioned the principal judge, warning that they will not resume work until their concerns are addressed. Davis Kiconco, another lawyer in Masaka, said the situation is untenable, with a single judge and registrar overwhelmed by hundreds of pending cases.
He noted that delays in delivering justice are not only hurting clients but also tarnishing the reputation of legal practitioners. In March, while presiding over the launch of the #Justice4Her project at Masaka High court, a program focused on improving access to justice for women and girls, deputy chief justice Flavian Zeija acknowledged the judge shortage and pledged to push for additional recruitment.
Justice Zeija also said the Judiciary was considering expanding the jurisdiction of chief magistrates to handle defilement cases as a stopgap measure to ease the High court’s burden. Meanwhile, Kampala-based lawyer Elison Karuhanga has weighed in, pointing to constitutional options under Article 142(2), which allows the President on the advice of the Judicial Service Commission to appoint qualified individuals, including members of the Uganda Law Society (ULS), as temporary judges “with no pension. No car. No bodyguards. No right of way. That’s the spirit.”
Karugire said currently, the Uganda Law Society representatives remain unelected because their elections are stuck in the same broken court system they’re supposed to help fix.
“And let’s be clear: a Judicial Service Commission without the Bar is not just incomplete – it is unfit. You cannot prescribe medicine when you’ve silenced the doctor. In law, as in anatomy, a body with a missing organ doesn’t function; it fails. And when that missing organ is the conscience of the legal profession, its absence is not silence; it is an alarm.”
It is all about lots of hot air and African pride of Abasooma. Before colonialism appeared in the country of the Ganda tribes people, was human justice not practiced? Was there any pending log cases and hundreds of prison buildings to store suspects on remands for 6 to 2 years? Elson Karuhanga should not even be saying such an advice where NRM would be most happy to install about anyone to come to the NRM government courts of law and sit in judgement in this country. Of course with such advice taken, this long serving government will fill up all the courts in this country with NRM diehard supporters. As it is with the NRM local councillors throughout this countryside, they will certainly manage to work happily without pay as they are presently doing, for many years and counting!
You are entitled to your opinion not all cases are political cases. People are in prison waiting for their day in court, people have lost their jobs unfairly and are waiting for a decision of court, mothers have lost their homes and are waiting for their day in court.
The people who studied law originally used to be smart guys( I am not sure about now- a lawyer who cannot write a coherent article ???)
Why don’t they become arbitrators – people who help settle disputes?
The courts are also advocating for Alternative Dispute Resolution(ADR)
They can still make money, I believe they will even make much more through ADR…
It, ADR, will put money in the pockets of guys who would have become lawyers if not for poverty…so a win win.
Bring those disputes to us who did not study law but have the brains to solve cases amicably…
me you have a point indeed. An African poor country like Uganda wants to imitate Western countries that pay judges thousands of dollars every week to pass judgement. Political judges (NRM cadre) sit in political cases once every two years and receive a monthly wage of over 30 million shillings. What of the high wages of lawyers who deal with such political cases and many more. These expensive lawyers are certainly at a loss when these qualified judges are no where to be seen working. It is unfortunate that the current accumulated caseload might take more than 22 years to clear!