The recent reforms in the judicial sector will help cut case backlog, especially in the Supreme Court, the Chief Justice has said. 

Prof. Sam Rugege was speaking at the opening of a three-day retreat for senior judges and managers of the Supreme Court, the recently-established Court of Appeal, and the High Court, in Bugesera District, yesterday.

The Chief Justice said the Court of Appeal will help reduce backlog of cases, which is at 77 per cent of all filed cases in the Supreme Court.

"As far as case backlog is concerned, there were problems in the Supreme Court because we were sitting as three judges for every case, but at the Court of Appeal single judges will handle cases and this is expected to expedite the process,” he said.

However, he said that reducing the backlog alone would not be enough, challenging actors in judiciary collaborate in the work and make the justice process easy so that at the end of the ruling all involved parties will be satisfied.

In June, a new law determining jurisdiction of courts and establishing the much anticipated Court of Appeal was enacted, which Rugege said was long overdue because it would help expedite trials and ease pressure on the Supreme Court.  

"Judges should also be good managers of cases so that anything that is likely to slow down the case is avoided, whether it is caused by litigants, lawyers, the judge himself or herself, the registrar who is delaying with papers,” he said.

He challenged officials in judiciary to shun all sorts of malpractices such as unnecessary postponement of cases in order to build public trust in courts of law.

"The pride of every judiciary is that it has the trust and confidence of the public, that people who come to court do not come saying, ‘I know I will not get justice’, they should come saying ‘I know I will get justice because I can rely on this judge to get justice’.”  

Rugege said there was need for all parties in the judiciary to collaborate and ensure that everything is in order so that cases in courts are adjudicated fast and justly.

According to Angeline Rutazana, a judge at the Court of Appeal, they are ready to play their role as judges. 

"I think we’re ready to deliver on our mandate,” she said.

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