The newly appointed Chief Magistrates in different parts of the country are decrying the sorry state of infrastructure at their duty stations. The chief magistrates, who are undergoing two weeks of induction at Collin Hotel Mukono, say that they are challenged by the late provision of funds and resources for the repair and maintenance of court buildings, which affects timely service delivery.
Some of the chief magistrates note that they operate in dilapidated buildings with cracked ceilings, while other courts lack secure perimeter fences, furniture, power, and waiting shades for court clients. The Kitgum Chief Magistrate, Robert Nashiero Mwandha, says that his court has not had power for the last two months yet they lack an alternative source of power. “As a result, we end up filling commitment warrants by hand and once we work beyond normal hours, we use phone touches for lighting,” Nashiero noted.
The Katakwi Chief Magistrate, Justine Gumtwero raised a similar concern, saying that often lack money for loading power tokens, adding that the solar panels at the court were installed without the control charge. Their Mityana counterpart, John Pauls Osawulo, said his court lacks a permanent shelter for clients. On his part, Augustine Alube, the Chief Magistrate of Rakai, said that besides the court lacking a perimeter fence, the buildings have developed cracks.
“A team from the judiciary assessed our working space and promised to work on the renovation process but it seems it stalled. Surely we need to relocate the Rakai Chief Magistrates court to another place. Even dogs have access to the doors of our chambers due to lack of a perimeter fence,” Alube noted. The Dokolo Chief magistrate, Betty Adong appealed to the judiciary to work on the timely approval of their allowances given the fact that some of them work in hard-to-reach areas.
“We learned that some of our colleagues received allowances and others don’t. Yes, sometimes they may be delayed but we request that once they are available, let everyone receive them, Adong said. Responding to the issues raised by the magistrates, the Judiciary Permanent Secretary, Pius Bigirimana advised them to put their demands in writing but also engage the court registrars to include most of these challenges in their work plans. “Concerns are noted, some need to be addressed to the registrars and others shall be sorted with the engineering department,” Bigirimana said.
Nonetheless, the Principal Judge Justice, Flavian Zeija told the Chief Magistrates that the good ambiance of their court infrastructure is their responsibility. He noted that it doesn’t make sense to sit on broken chairs with glasses hitting up their chambers. “Use the circulars issued by the Chief Justice to organize the registry departments and exhibit stores. From the inspections we have made, no court has an organized exhibit store, you find exhibits not marked to match any cases before the court. Please take responsibility for your workplaces,” Justice Zeija emphasized.
The Chief Justice, Alfonse Owiny Dollo, who launched the induction cautioned the magistrates against corruption, absenteeism, and other unprofessional tendencies. He noted that the creation of the new magisterial areas will help address the case backlog.
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