A fifteen (15) member delegation from Uganda has commended Ghana for incorporating customary laws and statutory laws in her administration of justice.
The delegation, led by the Deputy Chief Justice of Uganda, Richard Buteera, finds this hybrid system of justice delivery a novelty.
He said most African countries are concerned with practicing what has been handed down to them by their colonial masters, while neglecting their African cultures, which still have some value to offer in several aspects of dispute adjudication.
Speaking in an interview during a 4-day South to South Exchange and Learning visit to Ghana last week, he reiterated that two key takeaway lessons learned from Ghana’s judiciary include the marriage between customary laws and the ones legislated by the government.
The other lesson had to do with the advanced level of court settlements – Alternative Disputes Resolution (ADR) and mediation- being practiced in Ghana.
“In addition to Alternative Disputes Resolution, I think we are also interested in the idea of incorporating customary law and seeing how it operates together with our statutory laws, which we have inherited from the British…
“These African cultures are useful in many respects. Whereas the customary system has its own good and bad, we think that there are elements of our culture that are useful – the reconstruction nature of our system, the accommodation of people moving together, the use of elders, chiefs, and kings in a resolution of a dispute.”
Aside from these thematic areas consider instrumental for Uganda’s justice system, Justice Buteera stated that the team would also borrow Ghana’s kind of performers’ indicator, which it uses to assess judicial officers.
Impression
“We found out that a lot has been done in the Ghanaian judiciary. If I may say it was amazing to us [that] they had done 101 courts in one year. That is a big milestone,” he said.
The Deputy Chief Justice and his team were also impressed by how their counterparts have managed case backlog system.
According to him, in the case backlog – when a case is old in the system – in Uganda is two years, it is one year in Ghana. This difference in case backlog between these two Commonwealth nations, he said, was a big achievement for their host.
He reiterated that ADR and mediation are part of the areas that they are highly impressed with.
Justice Buteera described the South-South exchange programme as beneficial, as they have learned what practice is in Ghana and how the same can be incorporated to improve their system.
He added that they had the opportunity to interact with Chief Justice Anin Yeboah and other members of the judiciary.
Similarly, they also had the privilege of visiting Kumasi and the Asantehene to learn more about customs and traditional ways of dispute resolution.
He said the team will be looking forward to having Ghana judges visit and interact with their side in Uganda, adding; “I think there is a use in the South-South cooperation. I think we should learn from each other, not that we should be learning from Britain, America and the advanced world, but there is a lot to pick from our neighbours [and] our fellow Africans.
“Pick what they have done and pick from what we have done because the judiciary provides these services of adjudication to the population. If you learn from your neighbour you can always do better.”
Members of the delegation
Justice Buteera led a team made up of Uganda judicial officers, which include Her Worship (HW) Rose Mary Bareebe, Registrar of High Court, HW Flavia Nabakiiza, Registrar, Planning, Research and Development, HW Mary K. Kaitesi, Registrar, Judical Training Institute, HW Jamson Kaemani, Deputy Registrar/Public Relation Officer and HW Alex Mushabe, Deputy Registrar/PLS to DCJ.
The others are; HW Praise Ayebare Tumwbaze, Deputy Registrar to the CJ, HW Patricia AmokoMugumuza, Deputy Registrar/PLS to the CR, Eng. Dr. Christopher Ebal, Commissioner of Engineering and Technical Services, Apophia Tumwine, Commissioner of Human Resource Management, Hirome Sulaiman, Principal Assistant Secretary, David Kikbi, Head of ICT and Simon Peter Opolot, Head of Policy and Planning Unit.
