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The Judiciary in Uganda is organizing its first national annual court open day on February 29, 2024, at Kololo Independence Grounds. This initiative aims to bring judicial services closer to the public, allowing interaction with judicial officers and providing an opportunity for the public to learn about court processes. The event will involve Judges from the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal, and seven High Court Divisions, along with representatives from various legal entities.

The Judiciary has organized a national annual court open day in a bid to bring judicial services access closer to the people. The event is for all the judicial officers to interact with the public to learn more about court processes and also receive feedback.

According to the Judiciary’s Chief Registrar Sarah Langa Siu, the open day will take place on February 29th, 2024 at Kololo Independence Grounds. This will be the first of its kind when Judges from the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal, and the seven High Court Divisions will gather in one place.

Langa added that the judicial officers will be joined by the Inspector General of Government, the Uganda Prisons Service, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Uganda Police Force, and Legal Service providers.  She urged the public to turn up in big numbers.

Langa was speaking on Thursday while briefing the media about the upcoming 25th Annual Judges’ Conference which will be held from February 5th to 8th under the theme” A People-Centered Approach to Justice”.

The conference precedes two key functions which include the launch of the new law- year on February 9th, 2024, and the commissioning of the newly constructed twin-tower buildings housing the Appellate Courts.

According to the Chairperson of the Organizing Committee, Justice Mike Chibita, the objective of the Conference is to share views and experiences of the Judicial officers, discuss case backlog strategies, artificial intelligence on judgment writing tools, health issues such as cancer management, parenting skills to judicial officers and management of financial and non-financial resources within the Judiciary.

According to Chibita, all Judges of the Judiciary, Registrars, Deputy Registrars, and Assistant Registrars will attend. He also said that the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal, and High Court will not conduct hearings, but all their registries will be open.

On the commissioning of the Supreme and Court of Appeal buildings, the Judiciary Permanent Secretary Dr Pius Bigirimana said that the construction of nine floors was expected to last three years, but they decided to add another floor to host conferences and the period for completion stretched to 4years.

Dr Bigirimana said the construction has cost the Judiciary 110 billion shillings. The buildings will have courtrooms, libraries, registries, adequate parking space, saunas, breastfeeding rooms, gyms, and saunas.