PS Bigirimana Presents Judiciary’s Case at Innovating Justice Forum 2020

The Judiciary Permanent Secretary/Secretary to Judiciary, Mr Pius Bigirimana has called for allocation of more resources to Uganda’s judicial system with the view of build its capacity to deliver effective justice services.

Bigirimana spoke Thursday at Innovating Justice Forum 2020 at The Hague.

The Forum focuses on Financing Justice.

While demand for quality justice from people remain high, investment in the sector is still minimal.

In Uganda, the judiciary continues to grapple with poor remuneration of staff; understaffing which leads to case backlog; and lack of decent workplaces especially in rural areas.

The Forum is now exploring ideas on what can be done to increase the money streams towards preventing and resolving justice problems.

Mr Bigirimana is part of panel of experts presenting on topics such as ‘Enlarging the Money Pie’ —debating on how to cost justice, increase revenues and what actually changes lives.

He will equally be a speaker on The Justice Delivery Budget 2025.

Mr Bigirimana said judiciary is a third arm of government that is detached from the political arena and often neglected during resource allocation.

“Politicians who approve budgets suffer inability to quantify and appreciate court contribution to national development,” said Bigirimana.

“Sometimes due to disputes handled by courts affecting politicians, courts may be deliberately relegated in resource rationing,” he added.

Bigirimana, who was recently transferred from the Ministry of Gender to Judiciary, has since moved to revitalize the judicial sector.

Uganda’s judiciary had lost reputation in the public eye both locally and internationally due to deep-rooted corruption and inefficiency.

But the recent months have raised hopes the sector can be salvaged.

Bigirimana (3rd left) in a group photo

Bigirimana supported the acceleration of enhancement of judicial officers’ salaries and signed the contract for Electronic Court Case Management information Systems.

He also sourced the contractor to construct both the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court; supported the ongoing Performance enhancement tool and introduced the Health Run every month at the judiciary.

“I am trying to see how we can attract funding to the Judiciary,” said Bigirimana, adding, “New justice demands call for innovation of the modern meaning of justice and modern approaches to delivery of justice services.”

One of the highlights of the Forum is the screening of a documentary portraying the struggle of Chief Justice, Bart M. Katureebe, and grassroots lawyer Arinda Daphine in their fight for a justice system that cares for its people.

Mr Bigirimana is part of a delegation of Justice, Law and Order Sector actors debating on perspectives on user-friendly justice, informal and formal justice; innovation and research.

The Forum intends to obtain a bird’s eye view of the needs for financing justice; understand the dynamics of current financial streams in the justice sector; explore the best innovations and how revenues can be increased; define measurable outcomes to make the case for investment and explore budgeting and public/private partnerships to finance 100% access to justice.