President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni appointed Justice Jane Frances Abodo last week as the new Director of Public Prosecutions.
She replaced Justice Mike Chibita who has since been elevated to the Supreme Court.
Today (Monday) she appeared before Parliament for vetting.
With 15 years of practicing law, Ms Abado takes to her new office with wealthy expertise/experience
This website has thought it prudent to publish details of the new DPP.
She was born on August 18, 1973 in Karamoja, Northern Uganda and attended school; St Mary’s College Aboke in Lira, Trinity College Nabbingo, Uganda Management Institute, Makerere University, LDC, and Trinity College Dublin- Ireland where she mastered in law. She married to Remegio Achia.
Career objectives
To contribute to effective adjudication of cases and promote the rule of law in Uganda.
To tackle corruption through prevention, education, awareness raising, and handing down deterrent sentences to send a clear message out there that Uganda does not tolerate corruption of any form.
Promote independence, impartiality, neutrality, integrity, and competence in the justice system.
To contribute to the eradication of case backlog by promoting initiatives like Plea bargaining
Work
March 2018 to date: Judge of the High Court, attached to the Criminal Division.
Responsibilities; September 2018, appointed Judge in charge of Sexual Gender Based Violence cases in the Judiciary. From the time I was appointed in this position I have disposed of over 300 cases of sexual gender based violence, specifically those involving aggravated defilement of young girls below the age of 10 years.
November 2018, appointed Judge in charge of Plea Bargain in the Judiciary. During my time as the Judge in charge of Plea bargain, in addition to participating in training of stakeholders on plea bargain procedures, she has personally participated in going to prison camps to handle cases of plea bargain. This has yielded some good results because now for the first time the number of convicted prisoners is higher than those on remand.
To this end Abodo has participated in the disposal of over 800 cases in Mbarara, Bushenyi, Kampala, Maindi, Gulu, Nakasongola to mention but a few.
Experience
2017 – 2018: Position-Senior Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions
She handled General Administration of the Department, i.e. Prosecuting high profile corruption cases, directing police on proper investigations by use of prosecution led investigations with focus on not only the crime but also the assets, managing staff under me which included state Attorneys, investigators and support staff. Liaising with other JLOS stakeholders.
2015 Position: Head of Anti-Corruption Department in DPP’s office
Focal Point For Eastern Africa Association of Anti-corruption Authorities & Asset Recovery Inter Agency Network For Eastern Africa
Global Focal Point for Asset Recovery.
Team building; I had a team of 38 dedicated staff 15 of whom are lawyers, 11 police officers and the rest are support staff.
General administration of the department
Manage finances of the department and account for the same at the end of every month.
Prosecution of cases at the department. I personally prosecuted the first Kazinda case, arising from the OPM saga and the Ministry of Public Service case (Bicycle case) (both cases ended with convictions and the convicts are serving high prison terms with a possibility of financial recoveries) Handle appeals in the high court, court of appeal and Supreme Court, especially fraud cases since mine is a specialized department.
Represented the DPP at the Court Users meetings at the Anti-corruption court where all court users meet to discuss issues concerning prosecution of corruption cases. She was member of the Contracts Committee of the DPP.
2010- 2014: Senior Principal State Attorney
To manage the human resource in the newly created section of DPP, To plan and manage team building activities, to provide oversight and guidance to the daily administration work of the section.
She participated in the prosecution of cases at different levels, plan and manage the capacity building Program for staff in section, ensure quality control of filed cases for accuracy and well-reasoned.
Achievement
Administration; she was the head of the station and managing the running of the station.
Perusal of police files; she was in charge of allocating all police files brought to the station to all the prosecutors under me. I also perused files and directed police on investigations.
Prosecutions; she prosecuted cases and also monitored other prosecutions by making sure that the prosecutors are prosecuting efficiently and effectively for better results in terms of convictions.
Appeals; she used to be allocated appeal files from the headquarters to be handled in court of appeal and Supreme Court.
Complaints; she handled all complaints in the section from members of the public, I would address by either handling it at the station if within my mandate and address some the head office to be handled at a higher level.
Finances; she was the accounting officer at the station, the finances allocated to the station was for the welfare of staff under me, hence I had to manage that and account for the same at the end of each month.
She was the liaison officer at the station between the DPP and all other stakeholders, hence attended meetings and represented the DPP in different fora including district meetings, district coordination committees, court meetings, prison visits to mention a few.
