The Judiciary wants Shs70bn to upgrade the fleet of their judges according to details contained in the report of the 2021/2022 national budget framework paper.
While presenting the budget proposals for the next financial year, Judiciary informed Parliament’s Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee that the institution is faced with shortage of vehicles to enable judicial officers attend to court cases especially for land matters, which would require Shs70.7bn.
In their recommendation to Parliament, the Legal Committee recommended to have the Judiciary’s development budget enhanced with Shs10bn to procure transport equipment to improve access to justice.
It should be recalled that recently, the Judiciary underwent restructuring to meet the increased demand for services.
As a result, the High Court judges increased from 60 to 82 so as to match the increase in High Court Circuits from 14 to 20.
The increase in magisterial areas from 42 to 82 will require an increase in Chief Magistrates from 43 to 100 and magistrates Grade One from 276 to 532. Judiciary planned a recruitment of 365 judicial officers. They include 57 Chief Magistrates, 256 Magistrates Grade One, 28 Deputy Registrars and 24 Assistant Registrars order to reduce case backlog.
In order to enforce the new structure, the Judiciary needs an additional Shs174.35bn in wage bill.
Although the Legal Committee concurred with Judiciary, MPs asked Government to adjust Judiciary’s wage bill by additional Shs71.6bn during 2021/22 to recruit additional 150 judicial officers in an effort to reduce case backlog.
In 2021/2022, Judiciary’s budget is projected at Shs195.06Bn and among the key activities the institution seeks to undertake include disposing of 120 cases in the Supreme Court of which 45 are criminal cases, 55 civil cases and 20 constitutional cases. It also wants to dispose of 970 cases in the Court of Appeal including 400 criminal cases, 390 civil cases.
Additionally, the Judiciary plans to handle 29,180 cases in the High Court including 8000 Civil, 7000 criminal, 3,500 family, 6000 land, 2,300 commercial, 370 Anti-Corruption, 2000 execution and Bailiffs and 10 international crimes.
