The Principal Judge, Hon. Justice Dr. Flavian Zeija, named a six-member team to operationalize the Luweero High Court Circuit to handle cases from Luwero, Nakasongola, and Nakaseke districts.
The Court is one of the20 Circuits that were designated in 2016 under the Judicature (Designation of High Court Circuits) Statutory Instrument No. 55 of 2016. Six out of the 20 Circuits remain non-operational due to the limited number of judges in the Judiciary and the lack of other relevant resources, which include courthouses.
Hon. Lady Justice Henrietta Wolayo, former head of High Court Execution and Bailiffs Division (EBD)is the Chairperson for the Committee, which has been tasked to coordinate the operationalization of the Court and report back to the PJ by June 30, 2021.
Committee members are Mr. Pius Bigirimana (Permanent Secretary and Secretary to the Judiciary), HW Sarah Langa Siu (Chief Registrar), Eng. Dr. Christopher Ebal (Judiciary’s Commissioner for Engineering and Technical Services). Others are HW Samuel Emokor (Registrar High Court), who is the Committee Secretary), and Mr. Andrew Khaukha (Judiciary’s Technical Adviser/Committee’s resource person).
According to Office Instruction No. 1 of 2021 dated January 25, 2021, the Committee’s tasks include identifying suitable court/office premises and a team of Judicial and non- Judicial staff for the Court. They will also identify Court files for the Luwero Circuit that are currently in the different specialized High Court Divisions in Kampala.
While winding up EBD, Hon. Justice Dr. Zeija said the resources that were previously dedicated to the Division would be used to operationalize the Luwero High Court Circuit, starting July2021. EBD was wound up following numerous complaints about its operations from the court users.
The 14 operational High Court Circuits are; Arua, Fort Portal, Gulu, Jinja, Kabale, Lira, Masaka, Masindi, Mbarara, Mbale, Mpigi, Mubende, Mukono, and Soroti. Besides Luwero, five other High Courts Circuits of Hoima, Iganga, Moroto, Rukungiri, and Tororo are non-operational.
