Legal system locking out the poor - report
Safia Nalule Juuko is the chairperson Equal Opportunities Commission. PHOTO/COURTESY.
What you need to know:
- The report states that women, persons with disabilities, youth, older persons and children do not have information on how to report cases against their offenders.
Access to justice is still a challenge to vulnerable Ugandans, especially to those in island districts, a report by Equal Opportunities Commissions (EOC) indicates.
The EOC report named ‘State of the Equal Opportunities in Uganda FY 2023/2024’, which was released last week, indicates that several factors hinder Ugandans from accessing justice such as long distances to courts and limited knowledge of the legal processes.
For instance, the report states that women, persons with disabilities, youth, older persons and children do not have information on how to report cases against their offenders.
Missing files in courts were also mentioned where records are frequently misplaced or intentionally hidden, especially in land cases.
There is also limited legal representation, language barrier, and people feeling uncertain about certain legal terms and processes.
Absenteeism of judicial officers is also mentioned while obtaining bail is particularly challenging for individuals without political connections or financial resources, often leading to extended periods of detention.
Speaking at the release of the report in Kampala, the EOC chairperson, Ms Safia Nalule, appealed to the government to provide funding for legal aid services, particularly in rural areas.
“This would enable vulnerable groups to access professional legal representation without having to incur heavy financial burdens,” she said
Ms Nalule added that the Judiciary should expedite the operationalisation of the magistrate courts, especially in districts that do not have any.
“The Judicial Service Commission should ensure recruitment and placement of relevant staff such as the chief magistrates, and Grade One magistrates to all magistrate courts without any staff to enhance efficiency in the administration of justice,” she said.
The report identified other barriers to accessing justice such as insufficient interpretation services in relevant local languages, exploitation of individuals due to illiteracy and poverty, intimidation during contract negotiations, threats to personal safety, lengthy case duration and challenges associated with older age, disability, location and gender.
The findings from the EOC report revealed that of the 1,500 respondents who were asked about their justice needs, 24.5 percent reported land conflicts, followed by 20.3 percent who mentioned domestic violence, and 19.1 percent who mentioned other family matters.
“And this, therefore, indicates that the justice needs of the vulnerable persons supersede the prevailing traditional centres and this calls for a more diverse approach to handling the justice needs in Uganda,” the report reads.
Findings revealed that of the 118,777 case backlog in the court system, Kampala sub-region had the highest percentage of 35 percent (41,587), followed by Buganda North at 16 percent (19,384) and Bunyoro at 7.8 percent (9,286).
The high number of case backlogs is attributed to a number of factors such as witness unavailability, multiple adjournments due to the unavailability of magistrates and limited number of judicial officers compared to the number of cases filed.
Additionally, the report revealed, the investigations are poorly conducted due to limited resources.
The report indicates that islands are the most disadvantaged in terms of access to justice. A case in point is Buvuma District, which has 52 islands, but with only one magistrate’s court.
“Court sessions are held once a week, which implies that people with various cases move a long distance and justice is delayed,” the report states.
It also revealed that the cost of access to the magistrate’s court in Buvuma ranges between Shs700,000 and Shs1m, including transport, accommodation and meals, and in some cases, the complainant meets the costs of transporting the suspect.
In Mayuge District, four magistrate courts are serving a population of 569,969 people spread in the 16 sub-counties.
This forces the residents to seek justice from the mainland Kityerera Grade One Magistrate’s Court, which on average is a distance of about 100km away, on water.
The cost of accessing justice at Kityerera ranges from Shs260,000 to Shs500,000, including transport, accommodation and meals.
Some districts do not have any functional courts such as Kalaki, Rukiga, Rubanda, Terego, and Obongi.
This implies that Ugandans still move longer distances to neighbouring districts to access justice.
