Judiciary to hold dispute settlement week in Gulu to ease case backlog

Gulu, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The judiciary is set to hold a Dispute Settlement Week in Gulu this June, aiming to address the growing backlog of cases and improve access to justice in the Northern and West Nile regions.

The initiative, which emphasizes the use of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) methods—such as mediation and arbitration—seeks to expedite case resolution and reduce the burden on the formal court system.

Over 70 judicial officers, including judges, deputy registrars, chief magistrates, and grade one magistrates from High Court circuits in Acholi, Lango, and West Nile, underwent a week-long training in judgment writing and integrating ADR into judicial procedures.

The training, which concluded on Friday, took place at Acholi Inn Hotel in Gulu City. Zulaika Nanteza, the Acting Registrar in charge of the ADR registry, told journalists that High Court circuits and subordinate courts in Gulu, Kitgum, Lira, Arua, and Patongo have already identified over 500 cases that could potentially be resolved through mediation.

Nanteza explained that judicial officers will now engage parties in those cases and determine their willingness to participate in the free mediation sessions scheduled for June 16 to 27. The trained officers, who were awarded certificates, are expected to return to their respective stations and mediate the cases they identified and submitted to the ADR registry.

However, Zulaika clarified that a judicial officer cannot mediate a matter they were handling directly. Instead, they will mediate files from their colleagues and vice versa. If a dispute is not resolved through mediation, the case file will be returned to the judicial officer originally handling it for formal court proceedings.

The Judiciary hopes to successfully mediate over 200 cases during the two-week window across the Acholi, Lango, and West Nile High Court Circuits. The cases include family, land, and monetary disputes.

Parties with eligible cases have been encouraged to visit their respective courts and register for the mediation program, which is free of charge. Nanteza advised judicial officers to incorporate mediation into their daily judicial duties rather than waiting for the annual settlement week.

She noted that although mediation was introduced in 2013, its uptake had declined over the years, prompting a revamp in 2024. Since then, with the training of religious leaders, local leaders, clan heads, RDCs, and LC1s, over 3,000 cases were resolved through mediation between July and December 2024.

“Usually when a conflict breaks out, people easily report it to the LC1 because our court processes are complex. So, we have made strides. The number of cases registered for mediation is rising every day,” she said.

Nanteza added that revitalizing ADR helps ensure parties understand their disputes better, actively participate in resolving them, and reach outcomes that are more satisfying and less adversarial.

The judiciary currently faces a backlog of over 40,000 cases, a challenge ADR aims to tackle.

At the launch of the judicial officer training, Chief Justice Alfonse Chigamoy Owiny-Dollo emphasized the significance of ADR in the modern judicial landscape.

“Digitization and industrialization continue to dictate our actions. With this has come more emphasis on effective case flow management, giving courts new responsibilities to secure cooperation from users, agencies, and stakeholders in the justice chain,” he said.

In August 2024, a similar settlement week in Kampala saw 237 cases resolved in one week, with another 237 cases concluded in December during a family division settlement program.

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