New DPP assumes office, lists 10 areas to tackle
Justice Jane Frances Abodo (L) receives materials from Mr Charles Elem Ogwal, who has been acting DPP. Courtesy photo
KAMPALA- The new Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Justice Jane Frances Abodo, has assumed office to oversee prosecution of criminality in the country.
Justice Abodo said she had bounced back to her roots where she was a prosecutor exactly two years and 28 days ago.
"I am now back to my alma mater on a special assignment as the Director of Public Prosecutions of our country. Today 22nd April, 2020, I have officially reported to office as the new DPP," Justice Abodo said. " Over the last few days, I have received congratulatory messages from many people whom I cannot name here. Thank you for the confidence you have in me to deliver on this assignment. The least I can do is reciprocate your confidence in me by serving our country with utmost dedication, integrity and humility."
Justice Abodo was last month appointed the chief government prosecutor by President Museveni, replacing Mr Mike Chibita, who had been appointed to the Supreme Court Bench.
At the time of her appointment as DPP, Justice Abodo was a High Court judge, where she spent two years.
In her maiden speech, the new DPP outlined at least ten areas that she wants to concentrate on in order to scale up the fight against criminality in the country.
Some of these key areas are; advocate for more prosecutors since they are understaffed with only 335 prosecutors countrywide, start developing internal mechanisms to fight emerging new trend of crime like cybercrime and develop an academy to train prosecutors especially in writing committal papers.
Others areas are; take justice to rural areas to tackle mainly land-related cases, focus on high level crimes like murders, aggravated defilement and corruption by public officials, streamline registry file management and complaints handling systems, reduce on case backlog by weeding out minor cases, set guidelines for prosecutors, develop data collection and reporting formats and finalise with the enactment of the office of the DPP Bill that has remained in limbo for the last 25 years.
Justice Abodo becomes the first female Dpp ever since the coming into place of the 1995 constitution
