Joshua Nahamya
04, Aust. 2025
Mbarara – The Deputy Registrar Education and Public Affairs in the Judicial Service Commission, Samuel Mugisa, has appealed to Ugandans to try and solve their cases outside court rather than going for litigation to reduce the case backlog in the country.
Mugisa said this during a media engagement in Ankole sub-region, where journalists cited an increase in case backlog, while some inmates rot in prison.
Mugisa frankly revealed that despite the government’s intervention to increase the number of resources and judges, the case backlog has remained a major challenge in Uganda’s judicial system.
“Now there are more judicial officers the numbers have increased substantially than it was before, but despite the increased funding in the judicial system, we still have a public outcry because of the cases that had taken so many years without being heard,” He said
He appealed to the public to always utilize alternative dispute mechanisms rather than going for litigation to administer justice to the people.
“Let us encourage the people to settle their disputes through arbitration, reconciliation, mitigation and negotiations rather than litigation,” Mugisa stated
He also asked journalists to sensitize the people about the importance of the judicial service commission.
“We have called you here because people trust what comes from you using your different media platforms. So we expect from you to disseminate information and teach people the role of the judicial service commission. We hold the judicial officers’ accountable, advise and ensure that they work. Therefore we don’t only appoint but we also have the mandate to disappoint after expediting the matter systematically,” Mugisa noted
Maria Theresa Nabulya, Communications Officer, Judicial Service Commission, embraced the campaign of training people before court sessions to teach locals how the judicial system works.
She revealed that fresh recruitments are underway to fill the gaps of indisciplined judicial officers. “As a judicial service commission, we discipline, conduct civic awareness and also recruit. Like now we are going in the middle of the recruitment exercise from the high court, chief magistrates’ court, registrars, deputy registrars, assistant registrars and grade 1 magistrates and so far we have received 1500 applications for 71 positions of magistrates,” Nabulya explained.
She asked the journalists to always do their work professionally and warned them to respect the court sessions.
“There are media officers who come to court and want to capture everything without remembering that many judicial officers feel uncomfortable with the cameras, maybe because of security reasons. Be organized, do your work professionally and don’t interrupt court sessions.” Nabulya said
