BUNDIBUGYO - The Community Justice Centre in Bundibugyo was on March 5 2013 officially opened by the Honorable the Chief Justice of the Republic of Uganda in the company of members of the JLOS Leadership and Steering Committee and Development partners.The Community justice centre which will house the Uganda Police, Office of the Directorate of Public Prosecutions and the Chief Magistrates Court is part of the sector initiatives to enhance access to Justice for all – especially the poor and marginalized. The Justice centre will also greatly reduce the need for renting buildings and reduced transportation costs since its is strategically located in the centre of town.

District leaders and Judicial officers who included the Resident District Commisioner, area member of parliament (women) and the resident Judge, Justice Mike Chibita appreciated JLOS for the Justice centres and affirmed that justice would now be dispensed in a civil environment. They praised the development partners and the contractor Hotel Zawadi who finished the construction in record time. Hon. Kahinda Otafiire, the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs applauded the people of Bundibugyo for the warm welcome and urged them to make good use of the facility as a driver for development in the area. He also thanked the development partners for their generosity in funding the construction project.

The Chief Justice said that the presence of the JLOS team in Bundibugyo was testament of a deeper and shared vision to serve all the people of Uganda without discrimination. He also thanked the Development Partners Group in general, chaired by Denmark, for supporting the Sector and the Netherlands Government in particular who provided the bulk of the funding for the construction of the community justice centre in Bundibugyo.

The commissioning of the justice centre is part of the ongoing monitoring and evaluation visit to western Uganda by the political leadership of JLOS – the first of its kind in the sector’s 13 year history.

The Monitoring and evaluation team later in the afternoon visited the Fort Portal Children’s Remand home where a guided tour around the facility was done led by the State Minister for Youth and Children Affairs, Hon. Ronald Kibuule.

By This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. in Bundibugyo | Published: March 5, 2013

The Community Justice Centre at Otuke, was officially opened on March 23, 2011 while the Community Justice Centre at Kiryadongo, was officially opened on March 24, 2011. This event brought to the close the official opening of four Community Justice Centres which were built with a grant of approximately U$3,000,000 from the United States Government under the emergency assistance to Uganda.

The Hon. the Chief Justice of Uganda Justice Benjamin Odoki and the Deputy Head of Mission of the American Embassy in Uganda presided over the official opening of the Community Justice Centres. Community Justice Centres aim at bringing all judicial and legal services under one roof to make them cheaper, affordable and within easy reach of all especially the poor.

Community Justice Centres are also part of the long-term plan by the Government to harness and support the peace process in Northern Uganda through the re-establishment of civilian institutions in the war torn Northern Uganda.

Official opening of the High Court at Lira
Mr. Justice Benjamin Odoki- the Chief Justice of Uganda officially opened the High Court at Lira on March 23, 2011. The opening of the High Court in Lira is intended to bring legal and judicial services to the people of Lango, who hitherto had to either travel to the High Court at either Soroti or Gulu to have their cases heard.

However, with the opening of the High Court at Lira, the people of greater Lango should be assured that their cases will be attended to with speed and those with complaints against lower courts, will have a judge to attend to them.

The Justice Law and Order Sector therefore wishes to thank the American Government and people especially Ms. Amanda Willet, Mr. John Gatton and all the staff of the Northern Uganda Transitional Initiative for the hard work done in building the Community Justice Centres and the High Court Lira in a record time of seven months.

By Edgar Kuhimbisa | Published: March 25, 2011

LIRA -- On March 23, 2011 yesterday, the Lira High Court and Community Justice centers were officially opened.Speaking on behalf of the Justice, Law and Order Sector, the deputy Inspector General of Police thanked USAID for funding the construction of the High court and community justice centres.The High Court is the second biggest building in Lango. In his remarks, Mr. Julius Odwe said that Lira is a place of peace and justice and added that the opened court must therefore promote peace and stand out as a symbol of justice in the region.

The Head of USAID in Lira who represented the deputy ambassador at the American Embassy said that the community justice centre project is meant to enhance the capacity of Uganda to provide civilian authority, civilian presence and promote the efficient running of justice agencies. He said that delivery of justice is more than buildings. “It is about having a complete chain of justice. It is for this reason that USAID is supporting training of police to address the entire spectrum of justice”, he remarked. He pledged USAID’s continued support to the Justice, Law and Order sector.

On his part, the Principal judge Justice Yorokamu Bamwine said the Judiciary had been blamed for delay, corruption, poor working environment, poor service delivery and other vices. Justice Bamwine said that the Judiciary is committed to eradication of injustice and that delayed justice will soon be a problem of the past. He reiterated the Judiciary’s commitment to clear all the pending cases and thanked the development partners for the assistance rendered.

Minister of Lands Hon. Omara Atubo said the opening of the High Court at Lira will speed the delivery of justice. “Delivery of justice for common people requires more than the magistrate”, he said. Hon. Atubo added that all cases of corruption must be dealt with. “There should be no smell of corruption in court. Justice should not be for sale”.

The Community Justice Centre and High Court in Lira were built in a record seven months thanks to the spirited hard work of the American government through USAID and the Northern Uganda Transitional Initiative.

By Edgar Kuhimbisa | Published: March 23, 2011

In April 2010, USAID through M/s Casals and Associates and NUTI approached the Justice Law and Order Sector with a proposal to build Community Justice Centres in the post conflict Northern Uganda and to train the Uganda Police Force under a six million dollar grant. Half of the money was earmarked for training the Uganda Police Force at Kabalya Police Training School at Masindi, while the other half was earmarked for construction of Community Justice Centres in the post conflict Northern Uganda.

According to the project proposal the rationale of the project is ‘ to support Uganda’s effort to demilitarize the LRA affected north through the expansion of access by citizens there to justice, law and order’ through ‘ funding the construction of Community Justice Centres, training and technical support and institutional development for the Uganda Police Force and JLOS institutions’. The immediate goal of the project is ‘address Uganda’s immediate needs to deliver legal and judicial services to areas where the formerly displaced persons have returned or are returning’.

USAID with the agreement of JLOS agreed to use the grant for the construction of Community Justice Centres at Patongo, Pader, Otuke and Kiryadongo; construction of a High Court Building at Lira and construction of a parking yard at Masindi High Court. It was also agreed that the project should fund the training of Uganda Police Force.

Like with all other USAID grant, the execution of the Community Justice Centres project was given to Northern Uganda Transitional Initiative (NUTI) to implement with JLOS playing a monitoring role. NUTI has been managing the projects, and most of the project should be completed by March 2011.

Each Community Justice Centre has offices and residences for the Uganda Police Force, the Directorate of Public Prosecutions and the Court. In addition, each Community Justice Centre is fully furnished and has electricity or solar energy, where the Centre is far from the national electricity grid.

It is the expectation of USAID that the Community Justice Centres will ‘serve as loci for interaction between communities and representatives of the JLOS institutions especially the Police, DPP and the Court’ to improve the provision of legal and judicial services’.

As a sector and Government, our obligation is to provide adequate staff for the Community Justice Centres and to provide recurrent expenditure to maintain and run services within the Centres.

Last but not least, all the Community Justice Centres will be symbolically launched and officially opened at Patongo on January 10, 2011. The function will be presided over by the Deputy Chief Justice and the Deputy Head of the US Mission in Uganda. Heads of the participating JLOS institutions and JLOS Development Partners will attend the launch.