Courts clear 120 cases under plea bargain system
Principal Judge Yorokamu Bamwine
Nakasongola- The courts disposed of 120 cases through the Plea Bargain process during the period when state prosecutors were on strike.
Principal Judge Yorokamu Bamwine said the Judiciary’s new dispute resolution mechanism ensured justice prevails despite the trying time of industrial action.
Justice Bamwine said the cases were disposed of between July and the first week of December.
“The plea bargain sessions have been ongoing despite the strike by the prosecutors. We have successfully handled 120 cases during the period. We managed to handle 60 cases from Kigo prison and another 60 from Luzira prison,” he said at the official launch of plea bargain judicial programme at Nakasongola Prison on Saturday.
“We now make an appeal for those who want to take advantage of this system to apply. This only benefits those who know that they are guilty and do not want to waste time in the lengthy court,” Justice Bamwine told inmates at the prison.
The programme
Plea Bargain is a dispute resolution process introduced by the Judiciary where the accused pleads guilty to the alleged offence and in return receives a lenient sentence for not wasting court’s time.
According to justice Bamwine, the Judiciary has registered 950 applications from prisoners willing to have their cases settled under the plea bargain system.
The Judiciary can only hold 70 High Court sessions in a year with a maximum of 2,800 cases for trial despite a staggering 10,536 cases already committed to the High Court for hearing.
“Whoever is ready to admit and plead guilty will be listed and scheduled for plea bargain,” Justice Bamwine explained.
Disposed of cases
The Judiciary data indicates that 4,979 cases have been disposed of through the programme between 2014 and October 2017.
The Director of Public Prosecutions, Mr Mike Chibita, said the process is aimed at decongesting prisons where the number of inmates on remand exceed the count of convicts in jail.
