The Principal Judge, Dr Flavian Zeija has reassured administrative staff at Mukono High Court that the Judiciary is pushing for better remuneration although it faced a setback from Cabinet adding that the Chief Justice has written to the President on the same issue.
The Principal Judge made the remarks while concluding his inspection of courts under Mukono High Court Circuit.
During the three-day inspection, Zeija received reports of improved service delivery and heightened levels of integrity in the courts.
He urged staff to keep up the good work and avoid temptations of “short termism” vices such as corruption.
“I encourage you to be able to do two things; work hard and have integrity.”
He noted that the administration was not oblivious to the staff’s financial constraints.
“We now have a new Judiciary where we are supposed to determine our own terms of reference,” he noted.
He explained that following the enactment of the Administration of Judiciary Act, the institution is meant to go through a transitional period within which a phased implementation of its provisions is done including migrating administrative staff from Public Service to the Judiciary Service.
On her part, the Chief Registrar, Sarah Langa Siu, appealed to the staff to prepare for a new Judiciary and drop the vices that hinder justice delivery.
Among the plans she listed to enhance service delivery the Chief Registrar highlighted the setup of audio-visual link facilities in all High Court circuits and some Chief Magistrate courts, the construction of a Judiciary central archive, recruitment of judicial officers, supporting peer learning and training.
She, however, decried the practice of some judicial officers who upon transfer or promotion do not complete cases pending judgment before moving stations.
The judicial officers were tasked to draft a list of all cases pending judgment saying the culpable officers will be required to deliver the judgments thereof.
The Principal Judge and the Chief Registrar first visited Mukono Chief Magistrate court where they were received by a team led by Sarah Tusiime, the Chief Magistrate and Magistrates Grade One; Muinda Tadeo, Kagoya Jackline and Koburunga Patience.
Tusiime reported that the court had a total workload of 1,599 cases out of which 155 are backlogged.
From there, the PJ was taken on a guided tour of the construction site of the Mukono High Court building by the Senior Resident Judge, David Batema.
Batema and Elizabeth Kabanda decried the increasing workload noting that currently, the total workload of the court stands at 4,835 cases of which 3,127 are backlog.
Batema explained that most of the cases were matters previously filed under Jinja High Court Circuit.