DPP Abodo, Bamasaaba leaders back Alternative Justice to ease court burden

Kampala, Uganda: Senior judicial and cultural leaders have applauded the Alternative Justice System (AJS) as a viable mechanism for resolving community disputes across Uganda, with calls to formally integrate traditional practices into the mainstream justice framework.

In a high-level engagement held last week in Munyonyo, Prof. Andrew Khaukha, the Head of the Judicial Training Institute and a High Court Judge, told participants that for Uganda to replicate the success of countries like Zambia and Namibia in community-level dispute resolution, the Judiciary must institutionalize and empower the AJS model.

“If we are to achieve what communities like Zambia and Namibia have achieved in resolving community conflicts, then Uganda must strengthen the alternative justice system,” said Prof. Khaukha.

Prominent among the speakers was Steven Masiga, spokesperson of the Bamasaaba Cultural Institution, who shared how the Bugisu sub-region has used non-litigious methods rooted in customary norms to settle internal leadership wrangles.

Masiga recounted how the Bamasaaba successfully applied Article 246(2) of the Constitution and Section 16(1) of the Traditional or Cultural Leaders Act to resolve the long-standing disputes over the Umukuka (cultural headship).

“We request the judiciary to archive the Bugisu success story as a locus classicus—a reference case that other cultural institutions facing internal conflicts can look to,” Masiga said while addressing Chief Justice Alfonse Owiny-Dollo and Constitutional Affairs Minister Norbert Mao.

The Director of Public Prosecutions, Her Lordship Jane Frances Abodo, lauded AJS as a tested and effective tool for community cohesion, drawing from her experience in Karamoja. “It is not that we don’t have disputes in Karamoja, but rather we resolve them through alternative justice systems. It works,” Abodo noted.

The Chief Justice and Minister Mao underscored the enduring relevance of localized remedies like the makoput, an Acholi traditional conflict-resolution practice, and reaffirmed government support for harmonizing customary mechanisms with formal justice.

Judiciary statistics presented at the forum revealed that only 5% of disputes in Uganda end up in courts of law, with the majority being informally resolved at the grassroots level. This reality, participants noted, further justifies expanding and backing AJS efforts nationwide.

DailyExpress understands that several cultural institutions, including the Bamasaaba, are now seeking formal recognition for their successful community justice interventions as national models of peacebuilding and internal harmony.