The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Justice Jane Frances Abodo has been presented with the ABETO Africa Peace Award.
This was in recognition of her remarkable achievements as DPP in the three years that she has been at the helm of the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP).
The ABETO Africa Peace Award is given in recognition of heads of state and government dignitaries who have championed the cause of transforming the state and quality of living in their countries.
The peace awards are an initiative of Always Be Tolerant Organisation (ABETO), a non-government organization formed in 1995 with aim of inculcating the values of peaceful co-existence, resolution of conflict through peaceful means and get the people of Uganda, Africa and the world to embrace a culture of peace, democracy and good governance aimed at promoting peace and tolerance among leaders.
The chairperson of ABETO, Moses Musana said that through Justice Abodo’s good leadership, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions has done so much amidst so many security challenges.
The Minister of Gender, Betty Amongi said the awardees had been meticulously assessed and their work ascertained to be fair, consistent and to have greatly contributed to the co-existence of all persons in the country.
The DPP expressed her gratitude to ABETO for presenting the award to her and reckoned that it shows that the work of the ODPP is being recognized and appreciated by its esteemed stakeholders.
She stated that upon her assumption to office as DPP, she focused on a number of critical areas including; high level crime, reducing case backlog, improving staffing and staff welfare, development of guidelines for the prosecutors, and establishing a prosecutors academy.
The DPP highlighted that the conviction rate of the ODPP has risen to over 71% in the past three years as well as the promotion of expeditious handling of cases through the plea bargain initiative leading to remarkable reduction in case backlog thus contributing greatly to the high conviction rate.
“Early this year, the ODPP Virtual Academy, an online platform for delivering training and legal resources to Prosecutors remotely, the first of the kind in East Africa, was birthed.”
Justice Abodo applauded President Museveni for supporting the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions to carry out its mandate in realizing the institution’s vision of a crime free society.
Dr. Livingstone Ssewanyana, a UN Independent Expert underscored the role of the award towards recognizing the roles of the awardees and identifying the people who make a difference in other people’s lives.
