Looking disturbed at the Mbale High Court premises, 62-year-old Lucia Nalwanana folds her hands as she narrated her painful journey of an unresolved land case that tore her family apart and left her in emotional and financial distress.
‘My husband died in 2015. His brothers said I had no right to the land because I was just a woman,’ Ms Nalwanana, a resident of Butiru Village in Butiru Sub-county in Manafwa District, said. She added, ‘They took me to the police. I opted to go to court, thinking the court would grant me justice, but I have gone to court more than 20 times. Sometimes they said the file is missing.
Sometimes the magistrate has not come. Eight years now, no judgment. I have asked for mediation, but nobody is willing to mediate,’ she said. The land in question is about two acres, where Ms Nalwanana grows her crops as a source of survival for her children and grandchildren. Ms Daphine Nakayenga, a postgraduate student at the Law Development Centre (LDC) in Mbale, came across Ms Nalwanana’s case while doing her community legal placement.
‘It’s heartbreaking to see a woman like our mothers pour tears. This is a case that could have been solved through mediation,’ she said. Ms Nakayenga said many elderly women like Ms Nalwanana suffer because they lack legal awareness and can’t afford representation. ‘Our justice system must become more humane. Mediation should be embraced because it isn’t just a legal process, it’s a healing process,’ she added. Mr David Wamanga, the LC1 chairperson of Butiru, said Ms Nalwanana’s case is not isolated.
‘In my village alone, I have over 20 unresolved land wrangles. They all said the same thing: courts are slow, expensive, and hard to understand, Mr Wamanga said. He added: ‘Some people lose land because they can’t keep travelling to court. Others fight. We have seen machetes drawn,’ he said. He supports the introduction of mediation at the village level. ‘If the Judiciary can train more mediators and work with LC courts, we will reduce these fights. People want justice, not endless paperwork,’ Mr Wamanga said.
Ms Aisat Mugide, 32, mother of four and a resident of Wokoto Village in Kikobro Parish in Kikobero Sub-county in Sironko District, lost her husband in December 2019, and six days after the burial, some unknown people destroyed the banana plantation and other crops. She later learnt it was a planned move to evict her from the land. ‘I received a letter from the sub-county that was asking me to leave the land, which I was sure we owned,’ she said.
She added that most of the local leaders in the communities conspire with the oppressors of widows, orphans, and other vulnerable people. Ms Fatinah Mutonyi, 21, a mother of two from Nalugugu in Bulambuli District, is an orphan who lost her father in June 2019. She was left with her other two siblings under the care of their elder uncle. Their late father had left them six rooms of rental houses, several pieces of land, and other properties that their uncle reportedly forcefully took over from them in 2020, just one year after the death of their father.
‘He chased us away from our own house that our father had left for us, he told me to go and get married, and we left everything,’ she said. Mr Peter Mudoma, a resident of Bukonde in Mbale City, who has a long-standing land dispute, said, ‘If mediation could help us finish cases faster and cheaply, it would be a blessing in disguise,’ he said. He added, ‘I have spent so much money just going to court, transport every week, feeding myself, even giving small bribes here and there just to get files moved. It’s painful because I’m not a rich man. We suffer. Sometimes it feels like justice is for those with money.’ Mr Ivan Mooli, an aspiring district chairperson of Manafwa District, said whenever there is a delay in judgement, there is a breakdown of justice and the innocent suffer. ‘We must do better for our people, especially widows and the elderly; therefore Judiciary should decentralise mediation services, empower local leaders with legal tools, and increase access to legal aid. ‘Justice must be felt at the grassroots, not just on file shelves in Kampala,’ Mr Mooli said.
Ms Annet Kharuri Gyabi, an advocate and project manager at Redeem International Uganda in Mbale, said most vulnerable people end up giving up on cases because of the high costs involved in trying to pursue justice. ‘There are clients that have cases but don’t know where to report, even transport to the nearest police station, because they are impoverished, they cannot pursue justice,’ Ms Kharuri said. Mr Steven Masiga, spokesperson for Inzu Ya Masaba, the cultural institution of the Bamasaba people, praised the Judiciary ‘s growing use of alternative dispute resolution (ADR). ‘Traditionally, our people always end their differences in a bad way of violence, isolation, or revenge. ADR brings a better way,’ Mr Masiga said. Mr Masiga said cultural institutions are ready to collaborate with the Judiciary to ensure mediation reaches the most rural households. ‘The Judiciary has done something very important with ADR. We now have a chance to end disputes before they destroy families,’ he said
Efforts by the Judiciary
So far, over 50 judicial officers from Mbale, Soroti, Tororo, Kumi, and Moroto have been trained by the Judicial Training Institute (JTI), aimed at promoting ADR mechanisms. Prof Andrew Khaukha, the executive director of JTI, said: ‘Nearly 99 percent of civil cases can be resolved through mediation. Delayed rulings in land cases break families and communities. Mediation offers a path to justice that is faster, fairer, and more humane.’ Prof Khaukha said the Chief Justice’s vision is to ensure justice is not only delivered but delivered on time and in a way that restores peace.
Justice Farouq Lubega, the senior resident judge of Mbale High Court, said many judicial officers are spending too much time in workshops and not enough time on the bench. ‘We must be in court full-time. But more importantly, we must embrace mediation to manage our caseloads and make timely decisions,’ he said. However, Mr Francis Gimara, the team leader at ALP Advocates, warned that for mediation to succeed, it must be demystified. ‘Let people understand that justice doesn’t always require a robe and a courtroom. We need trained mediators at the parish level, simplified forms, and the courage to say court is not always the answer,’ he said.