Mao backs increasing number of Supreme, Court of Appeal justices
Judges of the Supreme Court. PHOTO/FILE
What you need to know:
- The number of justices of the Supreme Court and justices of the Court of Appeal, Mr Mao explained, were last increased in 2011 with the current Supreme Court staffing at 11 justices, including the Chief Justice, while the number of justices of the Court of Appeal stands at 15, including the Deputy Chief Justice.
Justice minister Norbert Mao has justified increasing the number of justices of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal/Constitutional Court.
Speaking before Parliament’s Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee yesterday, Mr Mao said the additional justices will enable the courts to effectively and efficiently administer justice to Ugandans.
“It will promote the rule of law, peace and security and promote investment,” he said.
He added: “It will correspondingly lead to improved service delivery by the Judiciary, arising out of the elimination of case backlog and consequently bring judicial services nearer to the people, to whom judicial power is ultimately vested.”
The Supreme Court is the highest court in the land while the Court of Appeal follows in line as the second highest court.
The Committee is currently scrunitising the Judicature (Amendment) Bill, 2023, seeking to increase the number of judges on both the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal.
The number of justices of the Supreme Court and justices of the Court of Appeal, Mr Mao explained, were last increased in 2011 with the current Supreme Court staffing at 11 justices, including the Chief Justice, while the number of justices of the Court of Appeal stands at 15, including the Deputy Chief Justice.
“There has been an increase in population, crime rates and increased awareness among the public of their legal rights, which has resulted in the high demand for judiciary services and court use. This, in turn, has led to acute case backlog in the upper bench, composed of the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court,” Mr Mao said.
The Bill seeks to increase the number of justices of the Supreme Court from 11 to 21 including the Chief Justice, and to increase the number of justices of the Court of Appeal from 15 to 56, including the Deputy Chief Justice.
Mr Abdu Katuntu, the Bugweri County MP, said the increase would instead lead to a bloated judicial system, which would not ideally resolve the backlog problem.
“The only justification of this from your point is backlog. That is what I am reading and there are many reasons why we have that backlog. Increasing the number of judges per se cannot sort out that problem,” Mr Katuntu said.
Journalists covering the proceedings were at some point requested to step out of the meeting for about 20 minutes and once the interface resumed, Mr Mao presented his final prayers before the committee.
He emphasised that the reason for the Bill went beyond the backlog.
“It is also because of practical problems we are facing in constituting the panels that can sit and getting quorum. These practical problems require practical solutions. I agree that this is not a comprehensive solution but part of a solution to a big problem still takes you closer to the solution than doing nothing,” Mr Mao said.
On the proposal seeking to increase the number of Supreme Court Justices from 11 to 21, he asked that perhaps an amendment be considered to allow the number go up to 15, given practical innovative suggestions committee members shared on dealing with backlog cases.
