UGANDA’S JUDICIARY SPOTLIGHT (5.31.2016)

Judicial branches are crucial supports to well-functioning democracies. Courts reign in the power of the legislative branch by holding it accountable to the constitution, and they act as watchdogs to elected members of the executive branch (presidents, governors, etc. ) whose actions exceed their constitutional authority. An equally important role for judiciaries is that they raise the cost of action by other political actors who act imprudently: deciding to act against the recommendations and decisions by judges ‘outs’ political actors as authoritarians or it contributes to illigitimacy of the political system in which both belong. Attenuating the judicial system in any democracy reduces the checks against the legislature and the executive, but it does so at the expense not only of the judicial branch but of the system as a whole. While judges come from elite groups - graduating as an attorney and then succeeding as an attorney within this subset of college-educated peers - they have also played important roles as bulwarks against authoritarian rule and expansionary executives.

Judicial Caseload

While attacks against judges directly are rare, emaciating a judicial branch of government comes amid ‘austerity’ measures as much as it occurs as a result of culling political opponents. Among the courts struggling to manage their caseload are the Courts of Appeals, which have lost ground year after year in terms of hearing cases. Since 2010, the number of Appeals Justices has increased from 7 to 12 and they have tried more cases, from 386 to 972 respectively (Kavuma 2015: 12). Not only are there more justices, but the justices are becoming more efficient with the cases per justice increasing from ~55 to 81 per year. However, while there are more justices who are hearing more cases per justice, the number of pending cases has effectively doubled since 2010. In 2010, 2634 cases were brought before the Court of Appeal, 846 were filed and 2634 were left pending. In 2015, 4400 were brought before the Court of Appeal, 1706 were filed and 5844 were left pending (Kavuma 2015: 12).    

Works Cited

Kavuma, Steven. Judicial Uganda. 2015. Court of Appeal, Constitutional Court Report. 18th Judges Annual Conference. Kampala, Uganda.