Judicial officers have been urged to avoid wielding the authority of their office when conducting out-of-court settlement mediation sessions and instead adopt a more approachable and humane posture to help parties resolve disputes amicably.
Former Uganda Law Society president Francis Gimara said some judges become overly defined by their positions and carry the aura of judicial authority into mediation rooms, yet mediation requires a less formal and less intimidating environment.
‘There is one thing also: when you become a judge, I say this with a lot of respect, some judges lose the humanity bit of it. The judgeship defines who they are. Everything is: ‘I’m a judge,’ and you rub it in our faces, and we are reminded all the time, and we respect that, and our protocol to training respects that,’ Mr Gimara said.
He added: ‘But we would like you to move from that way of leadership. We are reminding judges that when you go into the mediation room, forget you are a judge; humanise yourself.’
The call was made on Monday during a training workshop for judicial officers on the effective handling of land matters, ahead of a major mediation exercise by the Land Division of the High Court.
His remarks sparked discussion among participating judges, with Justice Christine Kaahwa questioning how far judicial officers should go in lowering the barriers between themselves and litigants during mediation.
‘How far can you lower yourself as a judge because you might overdo it and the public starts to familiarise you, which is not good?’ Justice Kaahwa asked.
In response, Mr Gimara said judicial officers should strike a balance between being approachable and maintaining the dignity of their office.
‘There are things to avoid. Servant leaders share power unlike traditional leaders,’ he said, adding that judges should establish personal boundaries while embracing a more collaborative style of leadership during mediation.
Justice Olive Kazaarwe also sought guidance on how female mediators should conduct themselves, particularly during menopause, which she noted can be accompanied by mood swings that may affect interactions with parties.
The training comes as the Land Division of the High Court prepares for a two-week mediation exercise aimed at resolving about 500 land disputes through alternative dispute resolution mechanisms.
Speaking at the event, Justice Prof. Andrew Khaukha, the Executive Director of the Judicial Training Institute (JTI), underscored the need for mediation as a tool to reduce the judiciary’s mounting case backlog.
Citing the Judiciary’s Annual Performance Report for the 2024/2025 financial year, Justice Khaukha said the courts are grappling with approximately 190,000 pending cases, of which about 35,000 are land-related disputes.
He noted that around 8,600 of those land matters are currently pending before the High Court’s Land Division.
‘Assuming the judiciary has all the money and everything is in place, and we make an assumption that a case is concluded every day, which is impossible, it will take us over 8,000 days to conclude the cases at the division,’ Justice Khaukha said.
Meanwhile, at a separate training for selected judicial officers on the handling of criminal matters, Justice Mike Chibita, the chairperson of the Governing Council of the Judicial Training Institute, stressed the growing importance of forensic science in modern criminal adjudication.
‘My Lords and Your Worships, we expect that at the end of this training you will have a functional understanding of forensic science. You will not become scientists. But you must understand what fingerprint identification, DNA analysis, computer forensics, and toxicology reports can and cannot tell you,’ Justice Chibita said.
He added that judicial officers would also be exposed to practical demonstrations of forensic tools and techniques.
Justice Chibita further challenged judges and magistrates to improve their understanding of digital evidence, warning that traditional approaches to electronic exhibits are increasingly inadequate.
‘Printing a screenshot of a messaging application and tendering it as an exhibit is no longer adequate. You must understand metadata, the chain of custody for electronic evidence, and the applicable admissibility standards under Ugandan law,’ he said.
The trainings are part of ongoing efforts by the Judiciary to strengthen the capacity of judicial officers in handling increasingly complex land and criminal cases while improving efficiency in the administration of justice.