Judiciary Permanent Secretary (PS) Pius Bigirimana has vowed to stamp out corruption in the Judiciary with the operationalisation of the Case Management Information System (CMIS) this year.
The Judiciary has earmarked Shs 6.5 billion in the coming financial year to implement this digital project.
Appearing before the parliamentary legal and parliamentary affairs committee on Friday, Bigirimana stated that this system shall eliminate all forms of crooked practices that have marred the institution.
“It means that we shall mini use the human to human contact which has been the source of corruption because many times you go to court, files disappear. The file has disappeared, it is not there when it is being,” she said.
The digital solution, which is to be piloted in 19 courts within Kampala Metropolitan shall allow parties to track progress of their cases right from filing, disposition and even when it comes for appeal.
Thereafter, it shall be rolled out to upcountry courts.
“We want to have an integrated system with DPP, Police and Prisons so that we talk the same language; so that nobody is there to delay cases because you don’t have information,” Bigirimana explained.
Judiciary spokesperson Solomon Muyita says this arrangement is being handled by a foreign firm Synergy International at a cost of 50 billion shillings. However, before this program is rolled out to upcountry courts, Muyita says the courts need to be fully connected to electricity and internet to simplify work.
In a related development, the Judiciary is looking for 3 billion shillings to roll out video conferencing systems to six high courts namely; Mbarara, Jinka, Arua, Masaka, Gulu and Fort Portal.
Muyita says this invention that took Ugandans by storm during the Bobi Wine and Stellah Nyanzi trials last year, shall reduce case backlog and transportation costs on the part of Uganda Prisons.
‘The one we put at Luzira covers up to twenty-five courts where Luzira has been taking these people including areas like Mpigi, Entebbe, sometimes places like Luweero and Nabweeru,’ Muyita pointed out.
In the 2020/2021, Judiciary shall need 3 billion shillings to handle election petitions and 82 billion to dispose of cases at all court levels.
This article was originally published on The Chimp Reports.
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