Govt opens divorce cases to public eye
What you need to know:
- The head of the Family Division said judgments are not publicised given the nature of matters handled by his court
High Court judgments in divorce matters are public information, Attorney General Kiryowa Kiwanuka has clarified.
“If a man and woman decide to get married , what they do in their home is confidential, but the moment they subject themselves to the public, publish their judgment if they refused to have their matters settled via mediation,” Mr Kiryowa told the Bar-Bench Forum at an event organised by the Uganda Law Society in Kampala this week.
He added: “You lawyers who are here, you need to choose with your client whether you want to make their bedroom matters public or keep them private through mediation.”
The Attorney General’s clarification was prompted by Justice John Eudes Keitirima’s remarks.
The head of the Family Division said judgments are not publicised given the nature of matters handled by his court.
Justice Keitirima said even on the online publication—Ulii—where all High Court decisions are uploaded, divorce judgments are not published there for the same reasons.
“You see, with the nature of the family disputes that we have, we try as much as possible to encourage mediation but the advocates are shunning it,” he said, adding that “matters of family are by their nature secret and you are actually doing a disservice to have them in the open.”
The clarification by the chief government legal adviser will be welcomed by journalists who cover the court beat. Previously, court officials have barred journalists from covering divorce cases that were under full trial in open court.
During the same Bar-Bench forum, lawyers through their former president, Mr Moses Adriko, raised at least 26 concerns on the side of the Judiciary that they think are affecting and slowing the dispensation of justice in the country.
Some of the concerns include few judicial officers, huge case backlog, conduct of some judicial officers being questionable, delay in delivery of judgments, disappearance of files, and challenges in use of Electronic Court Case Management Information System (ECCMIS) to file cases.
Principal Judge Flavian Zeija also used the same forum to lash out at a section of lawyers whom he said are defying the subjudice rule.
“What I have seen these days is lawyers making it a habit, immediately after attending court hearings, [to] address a press conference and they start stating what went well and what did not,” he noted, adding, “We should avoid this habit of playing to the gallery.”
Mr Bernard Oundo, the president of the Uganda Law Society (ULS), underscored the importance of the Bar-Bench Forum as one of the platforms that gives both the Judiciary and lawyers an opportunity to air their grievances.
