Judiciary calls on government to recruit more officers

The deputy chief justice, Richard Buteera, has called upon government to strengthen the criminal justice system by recruiting more judicial officers to handle the case backlog.

He made these remarks while interfacing with appellants during a criminal appeals session in Lira.

"We are making an appeal to the government to consider the fact that getting more judges is an investment that should be made for justice to be delivered to the populace," he said.

Flanked by the Lira resident judge, Mackay Alex Ajiji and the appeal justices, Hellen Obura and Remmy Kasule, Buteera reassured the appellants that justice would be served for all.

He explained that the court was in Lira to listen to the appellants, look at the court records and see how the trial courts arrived at their decisions.

"The decision of the Court of Appeal shall reflect the fairness of the case not favouring the prosecution nor the appellant but all the parties in accordance with the evidence and the law," he said.

Justices; Elizabeth Musoke, Obura and Kasule will continue with daily back to back hearings before traveling back to start the judgment writing phase.

During the question and and answer session at the prison, one of the appellants asked court to assign him a new lawyer since the one he had was acting contrary to his instructions.

Murder tops the cause list of appeals with 20 cases followed by defilement with 14 cases.