Speaker Anita Among (pictured) has tasked the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs to explain the absence of sign language interpreters in courts of law, saying the continued absence of such services is detrimental to the access of justice by people with hearing impairments.
The Speaker’s directive followed a concern raised by David Zijan (Butembe County) who revealed that in Uganda’s criminal justice system, there are no sign language interpreters yet their services touch on the fundamental rights of the accused persons, and currently, when an accused person with a hearing impairment is brought before court, the presiding judicial officers can’t enter any plea and therefore, the judicial officer can’t administer bail to tehse suspects.
Zijan said, “This is a gross violation of the rights of the accused persons, who have hearing impairments because it offends the cardinal principles of law especially fair hearing and presumption of innocence. This House should summon the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs to explain this indefensible anomaly and Parliament follows up this as a matter of urgency to cure the continued violation of the rights of the accused persons.
The lawmaker asked to have the Ministry to provide one sign language interpreter per High Court circuit so that when the Judicial officer is faced with such a situation, they can be called up to ensure the accused receive a fair hearing.
“The Court Registrars across the country say they will have trainings but they don’t explain how long these trainings will take, implying that those who are victims of this human right violation will continue to suffer until people are trained as if there are no unemployed sign language interpreters in this country,” added Zijan.
Kasule Lumumba, Prime Minister in Charge of General Duties said that although Uganda has a policy on sign language and special needs, these have been scattered in different policies and have since been merged into one policy and would be tabled by the Minister of Gender, Labour and Social Development.
She said, “But also proceed to write to all the Ministries and also guide the private sector. Now that we are in the budget cycle.”
Speaker however admitted it isn’t just the Judiciary but the legislature too requires sign language interpreters remarking, “What we need to do is ensure that we enhance the budget for special needs people, even Parliament needs an interpreter. So we need to put it in our budget so that we have it in every institution.”
