The 3rd annual commemoration of Justice Benedict Kiwanuka has been scientifically held by the judiciary under the theme Benedict Kiwanuka promoting the rule of law in the new normal.
While speaking at the function held at the high court in Kampala, chief Justice Alifonse Owiny Dollo said that they commemorate the life of Justice Kiwanuka for the role he played in the independence politics of Uganda because he believed in democratic dispensation, ideals for which he was detained without trial during the Obote I regime.
Today marked exactly 48 years since Justice Kiwanuka was killed after becoming being dragged from his chambers at the high court headquarters in Kampala and his body has never been recovered.
Justice Dollo has called upon judicial officers to be impartial, selfless and matters in the course of Justice by abiding by their judicial oath just like Justice Kiwanuka every time they are confronted by a judicial decision.
He has also re echoed the need for the appointment of more judges to meet the increasing case backlog saying and increase its budget saying its not fair that the other two arms if government only complains on cases taking as long as 10 years without being concluded, yet they do not address their demands to enable speedy justice.
Justice Dollo says the Executive and Parliament must be asked what deliveries they have done to make sure that the judiciary effectively carries out its constitutional mandate.
He adds that as a third arm of government, the judiciary should also be treated equally and given enough disposable resources to carry out their constitutional mandate of delivering justice to all Ugandans instead of expecting them to do the impossible asking them to exert their pressure somewhere else.
Justice Dollo also revealed that during the lock down, the judiciary disposed off over 20,000 cases between March 2020 and August 2020 alone.