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Court business goes digital as lockdown bites
The head of State House Anti-corruption Unit, Lt Col Edith Nakalema, (left) talks to businessman Abid Alam last year. Alam is battling charges of conspiracy. PHOTO BY ABUBAKER LUBOWA
Kampala- The Judiciary has commenced conducting its court proceedings online, as one of the measures to curb the spread of Covid-19.
In its press statement issued at the weekend, the Judiciary said the online transaction of its proceedings is aimed at promoting social distancing coupled with timely delivery of justice during the lockdown.
The announcement of the new guidelines by Chief Justice Bart Katureebe will benefit mainly those suspects who had failed to secure bail due to the pandemic restrictions.
One of such suspects is businessman Abid Alam, whose attempts to have his bail application heard via Zoom last week, were rejected by Buganda Road Court due to lack of an enabling law.
“Courts in the country have embarked on online hearings following guidelines issued by the Chief Justice on April 29 as one of the measures to keep courts functioning better during the ongoing national lockdown to curb the spread of Covid-19,” the Judiciary statement reads in part.
“The guidelines will ensure timely delivery of judgments and rulings, hearing of bail applications, case mentions and issuance of orders. This means that all the accused persons who had previously failed to apply for bail due to measures put in place by Uganda prisons, can now apply,” the statement further read.
The Judiciary also indicated that the new guidelines are backed by the Constitution, the Data Protection and Privacy Act of 2019, the Computer Misuse Act, as well as court rules and directions like the Video-Audio link.
In the new arrangement, Hearings will be coordinated by the Judiciary ICT department by identifying the concerned parties, invite them and guide them on how to effectively participate in their proceedings.
The invitations to the concerned parties will be done through email, Whatsapp messages and through the Judiciary online hearing tool.
The signed copies of judicial decisions will be electronically sent to concerned parties as a way of promoting social distancing.
