In a bid to foster innovation in Uganda’s Court system and also improving the Court operations and outcomes, Judiciary has invested $2.5 million in Electronic Court Case Management Information System (ECMIS) which will put to an end the spiraling corruption and case backlog.
The Secretary to the Judiciary, (Permanent Secretary) Mr. Pius Bigirimana who spearheaded the launch of this E-Justice system explained that, the innovation will begin with 19 courts in Kampala and Wakiso and after 2 years, all courts across the country will be covered.
As effective as he explained, the system works 24 hours unlike the filing of hard copies which is done in the working hours.
“This system is like a website, you log into the functions which you want to use. It is done online, whether at home or anywhere in your office, you can lodge your complaint, and you can also be able to know which Judge is handling which case. The rulings will also be done online,” he said.
Adding that the E- system will end the paperwork in court which has been a breeding ground for corruption.
“I am imagining that there will no longer be “kintu kidogo and also case backlog will be history,” Bigirimana added.
He further explained that ECMIS is an IT based system which automates and tracks all aspects of a case life cycle from the initial through disposition and appeal.
It is founded on the Judiciary existing business rules and processes, requiring minimal human intervention and it is able to facilitate the efficient and reliable collection, organization, distribution and retrieval of significant amounts of case specific data as well as processing of payment of relevant court fees and fines by the citizens.
Mr. Bigirimana summed the benefits of this innovation to both litigants and court officials; accessible anywhere on all devices, easy feedback functionality, online follow up of cases, saves time and automatic information of the appeal deadline.
Also the system automatically saves information in case of power failure, notifications of proceeding cases, online case summons and orders, easy to dispatch information, regulates physical contact which combats bribery and many more.
Asked whether the system will be open to everyone, Bigirimana said it will have provisions like unlimited access to the chief justice and the top administration of the judiciary and then limited to other officials depending on the hierarchy.
The system is being manned by an American firm Synergy International Incorporated and Sybyl Limited which wields a rich experience having developed same systems in US, Europe and Africa.
