A team of Judges of the Court of Appeal led by Deputy Chief Justice Steven Kavuma, has arrived in Mbarara to provide Court of Appeal services to the people there.
The team is slated to preside over 50 cases in a period of 32 days in Mbarara Municipality according to Justice Kavuma.
Speaking to press yesterday, Kavuma said the move was aimed at taking the services of the country’s second highest court to the local people.
The Court of Appeal based on Twed Plaza in Kampala, is mandated to among others hear, consider and judge cases and dispose them quickly and fairly in accordance with the law.
“Most of the people are not aware of the Court of Appeal, and those that do spend a great deal money trying to access it in Kampala,” said Kavuma.
The judicial team first met some of the relatives of the defendants on trial, many of who complained about the delays and repeated adjournments on cases.
In response, Kavuma said that such cases need ample time since government provides little resources to work on them within a streamlined time.
“All we want is for all Ugandans to know that the Court of Appeal also exists like other courts, and to make good use of it,” he said.
Kavuma urged the people to always respect courts’ decisions and to only proceed to higher courts when greatly dissatisfied.
The Deputy Justice was concerned that people often tend to take the law into their hands when they feel cheated by courts, citing two cases of people who were killed shortly after court rulings in Mbarara recently.
Justice Kavuma also asked the court officials to always ensure proper communication to complainants, the accused and their witnesses wherever there is court adjournments.