Jameson Karemani the Public Relations Officer of Judiciary says that the delay is due to the ongoing COVID 19 lockdown. He however noted that immediately after the lockdown is relaxed, the Judiciary will deploy a judge and start operations as other requirements are put in place.
![]()
Luwero Chief Magistrate Samuel Munobe introducing fellow magistrates to DCJ Richard Buteera on his visit to the Luwero Chief Magistrate Court recently
The planned operationalization of the Luwero High Court has been
delayed by the COVID 19 pandemic.
Luwero High Court is one of the 20 Courts that were designated in 2016 under
the Judicature Statutory Instrument No. 55 of 2016. However, to date, the court
had failed to start operations due to the failure by the Judiciary to post a
resident judge due to lack of resources.
In January this year, the Judiciary announced that effective July 1, Luwero
high court will start operations to handle cases from Luwero, Nakasongola, and
Nakaseke districts.
However, nothing had taken place at Luwero Chief Magistrate Court which will
host the high court.
Samuel Munobe the Luwero Chief Magistrate says that a committee formed by
Judiciary visited Luwero town council and resolved that the High Court starts
operations in premises that he currently uses after failing to get a suitable
building for rent.
Munobe added court files in the different specialized High Court Divisions in
Kampala have been identified and they are in the process of forwarding them to
Luwero to start operations.
Munobe says that they are waiting for the judiciary to post the judge and other
staff to start operations.
Jameson Karemani the Public Relations Officer of Judiciary says that the delay
is due to the ongoing COVID 19 lockdown.
He however noted that immediately after the lockdown is relaxed, the Judiciary
will deploy a judge and start operations as other requirements are put in place.
Erastus Kibirango the LCV Chairperson of Luwero District says that they are
hopeful that the operationalization of the high court will ease access to
justice.
Kibirango says that residents have been wasting resources and time to travel to
High court Kampala to file cases.
Recently the Principal Judge, Dr Flavian Zeija said the resources that were
previously dedicated to the High Court Execution and Bailiffs Division would be
used to operationalize the Luwero High Court Circuit starting July this year.
The Execution and Bailiffs Division was wound up following numerous complaints
about its operations from the court users.
The Luwero High Court is expected to hear among other cases, the election
petitions against Katikamu North Member of Parliament Denes Sekabira,
Bamunanika County MP Robert Ssekitoleko and Katikamu South MP Hassan Kirumira.
In June this year, Chief Justice Alfonse Owiny-Dollo suspended the hearing of
all court cases including election petitions for 42 days.
According to the circular, Owiny-Dollo said that the suspension was done in
line with the directives issued by President Yoweri Museveni on June 6th, 2021
for prevention and mitigation of the spread of COVID-19.
The Judiciary also scaled down operations to 30 percent physical presence
and only critical staff were maintained are at the court for the filing of cases
as well as other work.
Currently, 14 High Court Circuits are operational and these
include 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 remain non-operational over logistical
challenges.
