THE UGANDA JUDICIARY SCORECARD REPORT 2018 THE UGANDA JUDICIARY: 2018 SCORECARD 1 | P a g e THE UGANDA JUDICIARY SCORECARD REPORT 2018 TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................................................................................................ 2 LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................................................................................. 3 LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................................................................................... 4 ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS ................................................................................................................................................ 5 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ....................................................................................................................................................................... 6 1.0 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................................................................... 10 1.1 Background .......................................................................................................................................... 10 1.2 Scorecard Rationale .............................................................................................................................. 11 1.3 Research Objectives .............................................................................................................................. 12 1.4 The Scorecard ....................................................................................................................................... 12 1.5 Judgment Reviews ............................................................................................................................... 13 2.0 METHODOLOGY ....................................................................................................................................................................... 13 2.1 Overall Approach ................................................................................................................................. 13 2.2 Scope of the Assessment ....................................................................................................................... 13 2.3 Stakeholders (Respondents) Targeted .................................................................................................... 13 2.4 Target sample sizes – Distribution of Respondents ................................................................................. 14 2.5 Data collection Methods and Tools ........................................................................................................ 15 2.6 Quality Control ..................................................................................................................................... 17 2.7 The Implementation Team ..................................................................................................................... 18 2.8 Limitations to the Research .................................................................................................................... 18 2.9 Challenges ........................................................................................................................................... 19 3.0 FINDINGS ................................................................................................................................................................................... 20 3.1 Profiles of Respondents Interviewed ...................................................................................................... 20 3.2 Description of Litigants .......................................................................................................................... 22 3.3 Performance Scores ............................................................................................................................... 25 3.3.1 Overall Scores for Higher Courts by Litigants and Legal Professionals .................................................. 26 3.3.2 Overall Scores for High Courts by Litigants and Legal Professionals ..................................................... 26 3.3.3 Overall Scores for Chief Magistrates Courts by Litigants and Legal Professionals ................................. 28 3.3.4 Scores for Top Performing Individual Judges and Magistrates .............................................................. 29 3.3.5 Higher Courts Scores by Litigants ........................................................................................................ 30 3.3.6 High Courts Scores by Litigants ........................................................................................................... 30 3.3.7 Chief Magistrates Court Scores by Litigants ......................................................................................... 32 3.3.8 Higher Courts Scores by Legal Professionals ....................................................................................... 33 3.3.9 High Courts Scores by Legal Professionals .......................................................................................... 33 3.3.10 Chief Magistrates Court Scores by Legal Professionals ....................................................................... 34 3.4 Courtroom Observations Scores ............................................................................................................. 41 3.4.1 Courtroom Observations per Court...................................................................................................... 41 3.4.2 Overall Observation Scores ................................................................................................................ 41 3.5 Evaluation of the Court Performance Through the Lenses of the Judgments Delivered 2018 ..................... 48 3.5.1 Methodology ..................................................................................................................................... 48 3.5.2 SUPREME COURT ............................................................................................................................... 49 3.5.3 COURT OF APPEAL ............................................................................................................................ 51 3.5.4 HIGH COURT DIVISION ...................................................................................................................... 55 3.6 Civil Society Organizations’ Viewpoints on the Performance of Judiciary ............................................... 58 4.0 Conclusion and Recommendation ............................................................................................................................................ 60 4.1 Conclusions .......................................................................................................................................... 60 4.2 Recommendations to Address Challenges .............................................................................................. 60 4.3 Recommendations on Quality of Judgments .......................................................................................... 61 Annex 1: Combined Court Scores by Litigants and Legal Professionals ................................................................................. 62 Annex 2: Court Scores by Litigants ................................................................................................................................................ 63 2 | P a g e THE UGANDA JUDICIARY SCORECARD REPORT 2018 Annex 3: Court Scores by Legal Professionals ............................................................................................................................ 64 Annex 4: CSOs that Participated ................................................................................................................................................... 65 Annex 5: Detailed Comments on Judgments Reviewed ............................................................................................................. 66 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Number of Interviews Conducted .................................................................................................. 20 Figure 2: Respondents by Territory .............................................................................................................. 21 Figure 3: Proportion of Interviews by Court Type ........................................................................................ 21 Figure 4: Number of Interviews by Court Type ............................................................................................ 22 Figure 5: Number of Interviews Conducted per Court ................................................................................ 22 Figure 6: Occupation of Litigants ................................................................................................................. 23 Figure 7: Litigants by Gender ...................................................................................................................... 23 Figure 8: Litigants by Type .........................................................................................................................