Value of property in new cities puts magistrates’ courts in a fix

Masaka High Court resident judge has asked the Judiciary to consider empowering  magistrate courts to handle cases whose monetary value exceeds Shs20 million to address case backlog.

Justice Victoria Nakintu Katamba explained that since Masaka attained city status in July 2021, the value of land in the area has tremendously increased.

 She said since Grade One magistrates can only decide civil cases whose monetary value does not exceed Shs20m, they have left almost all cases in Masaka in the hands of the two high court judges, since most pieces of land are valued at over Shs50 million.

 “Almost every judge handles at least 1,500 cases and the registrar handles over 500 cases, but we can’t handle all these cases. If the jurisdiction of the magistrates court is increased, they can take up some cases, and we reduce on the cases we handle so that we can dispense justice to the public in the shortest period of time possible,” Justice Katamba said.

She made the statement during Masaka High Court Open Day last week. Principal Judge Flavian Zeija presided over the event.

Justice Katamba further revealed that during her time in Masaka she has always promoted the use of plea-bargaining   and mediation to facilitate dispensation of justice.

She cited a land case in Ssembabule District that had stalled for more than 30 years, but when she advised the parties to mediate the matter, it was resolved and justice was attained. 

“Some cases in the region are behavioural, which can be handled at lower levels other than ending up in High Court. And we have always told the public about available alternatives like mediation as one of the ways that can help us settle cases before coming into court and even those that are already in court, we continue to ask court users to embrace this programme [plea-bargaining option],” Justice Katamba added.

 Masaka Chief Magistrate Court Aloysius Natwijuka said they have over 15 magistrate Grade One courts in the area, though some lack State prosecutors, which sometimes affects their work.

During the 2023/2024 financial year, 4,452 of the 4,118 cases registered in the entire magisterial area were handled, 1,543 are pending and 57 were recorded as backlog. The court had a disposal rate of 76 percent.

 The Directorate of Public Prosecution for Masaka High Court circuit, Mr Brian Kalinaki, said the courts require at least 27 sessions, to handle all the above cases. He said this could take more than two years since each  session  handles about 40 cases.

“I ask the top Judiciary leadership to consider allocating visiting judges to the region to help in handling some of these cases,” Mr Kalinaki said.

 Justice Zeija said the Judiciary is aware of the challenge of the pecuniary jurisdiction of the magistrate courts saying that they are in process of having several jurisdictions enhanced and these include the monetary jurisdiction of the magistrate.

“We are still waiting on the Attorney General to complete the process and have the enhanced jurisdictions operationalised,”he said.

The Principal Judge said he was optimistic that by the end of the year, the Attorney General would have completed the review process.

He said if pecuniary jurisdictions of magistrates courts are enhanced, it would reduce pressure on the few high courts and extend some cases to magistrate courts, which are more spread, hence bringing services closer to people.

Pecuniary jurisdiction relates to the limits of the monetary value of the subject matter a court is mandated to handle.

[email protected]