MBARARA – Mbarara Resident Judge, Justice Joyce Kavuma, on Tuesday 22 flagged off a week-long Mediation monitoring and evaluation exercise for western Uganda at Mbarara High court.
The exercise which will cover the courts under the High Court Circuits of Mbarara, Kabale and Masaka is spearheaded by Assistant Registrar in-charge of Mediation, Hellen Ajio.
Justice Kavuma hailed the accredited mediators working within the circuit for the success stories registered in Mediation.
“I thank all the magistrates, advocates and mediators for your efforts in ensuring the success of Mediation in this circuit and in reduction of our workload,” she said.
According to HW Ajio, the exercise is intended to engage stakeholders and review the performance of Mediation in the respective courts, identify challenges faced and possible solutions.
“We are here not only to sensitize, monitor and evaluate, we’re also here to encourage that you continue doing Mediations because of its immense benefits such as reducing backlog,” HW Ajio said.
Adding that; “we also hope to get feedback on the progress of Mediation, understand the challenges you’re faced with and hear recommendations from you.”
The nature of the exercise entails conducting an interactive session with Judicial Officers and Mediators and filling in of questionnaires. The Registrar and her team will also conduct talk shows on various local radio stations to sensitize the public on the amended Rules and the benefits of Mediation.
Civil procedure rules that provided for mandatory Mediation were amended last year to give a presiding judicial officer the discretion to either refer or not to refer any matter for Mediation.
So far, Mbarara High Court, Ibanda and Bushenyi Chief Magistrate courts have been visited.
The exercise will continue today at Rukungiri, Ntungamo and Kabale courts.
