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No court hearings on Monday as judges attend open day event
The Chief Registrar, Ms Sarah Langa Siu
What you need to know:
- The affected courts are the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal, the seven divisions of the High Court in Kampala, and the magistrates courts.
Next week on Monday, there will be no court hearings at all courts located in and around Kampala, the Judiciary has announced.
The affected courts are the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal, the seven divisions of the High Court in Kampala, and the magistrates courts.
According to the statement dated April 11 and signed off by the Chief Registrar Sarah Langa Siu, the closure is to allow the justices/ judges of those respective courts to attend the first-ever national open court day at Kololo Independence ground.
“The Judiciary will hold the first national court open day on Monday 15th April, 2024 at Kololo Independence grounds starting at 8 am. This is to inform you that all the judicial of the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal, High Court Divisions, and Magistrates’ courts in and around Kampala will be attending the event,” reads in part the Judiciary statement in part.
But the Chief Registrar emphaised that despite the judicial officers being at Kololo, the respective registries of the affected courts will remain open to attend to the litigants who will need help other than the hearing of cases.
The statement dubbed “Closure of specific courts on Monday 15th April, 2024 for the national court open day”, has been copied to all the advocates, all court users, and the general public.
On Monday, the Judiciary will be holding its first ever national court open day, an occasion that will see the court users give feedback to the judicial officers on how they administer justice.
Speaking yesterday ahead of Monday’s event, Mr James Ereemye Mawanda, rallied all the court users to participate by asking questions and also bring forward their complaints against judicial officers.
Mr Ereemye was quick to ask the general public to come with supporting documents to back up their complaints that they will be making against judicial officers.
"The general public is urged to come to Kololo on Monday next week to interface with us and other actors in the justice chain as a way of demystifying the processes and services offered by the Judiciary," the Judiciary Public Relations Officer, Mr James Ereemye Mawanda said yesterday during a media press briefing in Kampala.
He added: "This feedback mechanism which also serves as an anticorruption intervention gives court users a platform to openly ask questions, seek clarity on the kind of justice they receive, and where necessary make proposals for improved performance."
Mr Ereemye further said since the Judiciary is one of the institutions in the country that has been ranked as one of those that are difficult to navigate, and that the national Court open day provides an opportunity for the public to come and informally interact with the judicial officers and not the usual court setting.
Court open days are interactive engagements organised at a given court for the public to give feedback to judicial officers.
What Judiciary intends to achieve?
At the event according to Mr Ereemye, the Judiciary is expected to highlight the services it offers, emphasize mechanisms being re-engineered by the institution to improve performance, receive feed back from members of the public to guide areas of improvement and sensitise on the court processes.
Chief Justice Alfonse Owiny-Dollo will be the chief guest at the event.
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