The Ugandan Judiciary has received a total of shs1.2 billion to help dispose of a total of 155 parliamentary and local council election petitions around the country, the Daily Express has learnt.
The Judiciary spokesperson, Jameson Karemani confirmed this in a briefing to the journalists on Tuesday at the Uganda Media Centre.
“We have received shs1.2 billion to handle the matters at High Court and Chief Magistrates courts throughout the country and we have drawn budgets for each courts,” Karemani said.
Mr. Karemani revealed that the Principal Judge, Dr.Flavian Zeija has assigned 32 judges to handle the cases in the different High Court circuits around the country.
According to the Judiciary, the High Court circuit in Mbale which will handle 31 election petitions will have six judges to handle the cases whereas Kampala with 17 petitions will have judges and Jinja with 16 petitions will also have four judges.
Additionally, Karemani said each judge handling the election petitions will take home shs170000 per day with each hearing not exceeding 15 days. The hearing of the petitions will begin on Monday, August,16.
“Each judge will receive a per diem of shs170,000 as per diem. We have set each petition to take a maximum of 15 days and these days will begin counting on the exact day of the start of the hearing,” he said.
According to section 63 of the Parliamentary Elections Act, an election petition should be heard and determined within six months from the date of filing whereas the judgment should be done within 30 days after hearing
The Judiciary spokesperson said whereas the law stipulates 30 days for hearing and determining an election petition they have set strict timelines of 15 days for each petition to avoid delays.
He noted that they have devised means of ensuring they do away with delays that have happened over the years in handling election petitions.
“We have probed the cause of delays in election petitions and we have got some measures to help us avoid these delays.”
@Nilepost reports
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