Published on 30/11/2023
Speaker Anita Among gave the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee less than a week to process the Judicature Amendment Bill, 2023, there was one person who hoped to earn all legislative dividends; Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister Nobert Mao.
Indeed, when the Minister appeared before the Committee on Monday, he hunched his presentation on the case backlog in both the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal in order to convince the lawmakers to support the government proposal.
Mao proposed to Parliament to amend Section 3 of the Judicature Act, Cap. 13, to increase the number of Justices of the Supreme Court from 11 to 21, including the Chief Justice and then amend Section 9 to increase the number of Court of Appeal Justices from 15 to 56 including Deputy Chief Justice.
In the House, lawmakers relied on the reasoning of the Committee to maintain the status quo on the number of Justices of the Supreme Court while it took quick consultations between the front bench and Committee Chairperson Robinah Rwakoojo for Mao to walk away with a legislative gift of 35 Justices of the Court of Appeal.
Increasing the number of Justices of the Supreme Court from from 11 to 21 will not solve case backlog in the Supreme Court since case backlog is caused not, by lack of justices of the Supreme Court, but by other matters including inefficient, poor case management and the Jurisdiction of the Supreme Court which allows every matter to be referred to the Supreme Court, stated Rwakoojo
How it happened
While presenting the report of the Committee to the House, Rwakoojo stated that during the interface with the Minister on Monday, it was agreed that, indeed, the number of Justices proposed in the Bill was high.
The Minister of Justice, while appearing before the Committee, conceded that the proposed number in the Bill was high. He proposed to the Committee that the number be reduced to four (4) Justices in addition to the current number of eleven (11). The Committee has examined the Bill and presentations made on the matter and is of the considered opinion that the proposal to increase the number of Justices of the Supreme Court from the current 11 to 21 be rejected, read part of the report.
Rwakoojo said that the Committee arrived at the proposal to delete Clause 1 of the Bill because the Judiciary still has room under Article 142 of the Constitution to appoint acting Justices in order to deal with the backlog instead of bloating the Supreme Court.
According to the Committee, the reason the Supreme Court has had a backlog of cases is because most people think that all decisions of lower Courts must be appealed up to the highest Court in the land.
The Committee opines that the Supreme Court should only handle matters of law so that it can guide and set standards for lower courts on the application of such matters of law. The opinion of the Committee is informed by the practice in most Commonwealth jurisdictions where the Superior court in most countries only handles serious matters of law and in some cases, only matters that the Supreme Court finds to be of great public importance, the report adds
However, while at the Committee stage in the House, Mao attempted to rally the whole House to stand with him in opposing the decision of the Committee on Legal and Parliamentary Affairs. He insisted that the number of Justices for the Supreme Court should at least be increased to 15 including the Chief Justice.
The Government disagrees with the recommendation of the Committee. I thought we had reached a middle ground of 15 Justices of the Supreme Court. We reduced the number from what we had requested and we made some undertakings namely, that we are committed to access to justice 360 degrees, said Mao.
He also informed Parliament that the Committee was aware of the efforts by the government including the recent enhancement of the number at the Directorate of Public Prosecution, the of State Attorneys and the introduction of alternative dispute resolution and plea bargaining to clear backlog in Courts.
It was at this point that Shadow Attorney General; Wilfred Niwagaba rose to challenge the Minister to prevail over the Judicial Service Commission to advise the President to fill the vacant positions on the Supreme Court bench before asking for increment of the numbers.
I just wanted to inform the Minister, we did pass the Judicature Amendment Act in 2008 and we increased the number of Justices of the Supreme Court to 11 but since then until now, they have never appointed the 11, they are only nine. So, appoint up to 11 Justices, said Niwagaba.
Abdu Katuntu, Bugweri County MP, who had during the Committee meetings led the crusade against a bloated Supreme Court bench, also weighed in on the debate on the floor of Parliament saying the Minister had deviated from the agreed positions in the Monday meeting.
The Minister is also stubbing us who sat with him and had a very candid talk including issues we can’t bring to this table. This morning, we had a meeting. We had a meeting with the Chief Justice and Deputy Chief Justice, a very fruitful meeting and we were honest to each other. It is not about you (Mao) against the Committee. This is about the country; it is about the Judiciary. And all the issues we raised, minister you agreed with them, you remember? You don’t have to bring another conversation here which we should be doing at this time, said Katuntu before the House voted to delete the proposal.
Meanwhile, Mao had to rely on the intervention of Speaker Anita Among to secure a substantial increment of Justices of the Court of Appeal from 15 to 35 including deputy Chief Justice. The Committee in rejecting the proposed 56 Justices had recommended the number to be 30 in its amendments to the Bill. This to the Committee was to give a chance to open regional Courts of Appeal in regions of north, eastern and western.
Honorable members, let’s have a win-win situation. You know at the end of the day it is all of us that end up in Court during election petitions. They will not be hearing our appeals [with thin numbers], he is requesting for an additional five, said Speaker Among.
It was also noted that the current law provides for 15 Justices of the Court of Appeal but in real time, only 12 have been appointed hence responsibility on the Judicial Service Commission to ensure that all the numbers granted in the passing of the Judicature Amendment Bill are appointed.
Minister Mao pledged to Parliament that these Justices are urgently needed and there is nothing that will hold the Judicial Service Commission from appointing them hence inviting some of the senior advocates among legislators to consider change of career by applying when such positions are advertised.
