'We are insulted by judges', decries senior prosecutor

KAMPALA. A senior prosecutor with the office of the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP), has decried the insults reportedly hurled at them by judges as they appear before them to prosecute cases mainly involving sexual and gender-based abuses.

Ms Samali Wakoli, the Assistant DPP, explained that the judges regularly insult them when they are prosecuting cases that are poorly investigated.
“I do not see why a judge should abuse a prosecutor because we have gone there to do justice. Prosecutors always complain that judges abuse them,” Ms Wakoli lamented during a high level forum consultative meeting for judges regarding justice for women and girls in Kampala.

Ms Wakoli who is also the head of the Sexual angender based violenced Gender-based Violence department of the DPP, went on to explain that some of the judicial officers whom they appear before, don’t appreciate the amendments made in the law which now makes it hard to prove the cases that involve sexual penetration.
“Some judicial officers are indeed impatient with prosecutors and witnesses, we however, engage them in chambers and they listen to us,” she explained.

The senior prosecutor also lamented the lack of laws to protect witnesses who offer to testify mainly in cases involving sexual and gender-based violence.

The International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) Protocol on Prevention and Suppression of Sexual Violence against Women and Children defines sexual violence as an act which violates the sexual autonomy and bodily integrity of women and children
“There are no witness protection laws in our country but as prosecutors, we think outside the box. At the office of the Directorate of Public Prosecutions, we have a department of witness protection and empowerment. Witnesses are informed of the progress of their case,” she said.
Speaking at the same function, Principal Judge Yorokamu Bamwine said sexual and gender-based violence takes different forms including in our homes, schools, streets, places of work and even in the Judiciary where he works.

The Principal Judge went on to state that Uganda is a signatory to a number of international conventions aimed at ending violence against women and girls.
He added that Parliament has also passed a number laws like Children’s Act, Female Genital Mutilation Act 2010, Domestic violence Act of 2011, which he said are well intentioned pieces of legislation for protection and wellbeing of women and girls.