Aboneka Writes

Over the past days media has been awash with the pleas by the judiciary and the Uganda Law society to have more judicial officers appointed and recruited in a bid to salvage the human resource shortage of Justices, Judges and magistrates. The plea to have these officers has been made for some time now and it seems it has fallen on deaf ears or chosen to be ignored. I have read , participated in development of various reports and one of the major observations about the Justice sector has always been case backlog due to lack of human resource to handle it. The same reports have always recommended for appointment of more justices, judges and recruitment of magistrates and other officers to facilitate the dispensation of justice in Uganda. The call re-surfaced again when the Chief Justice pleaded for appointment and recruitment of judicial officers for the dispensation of justice during the annual Judges’ Conference that took place between 28th January and 1st February 2019. The presiden

I have in the recent passed encountered scenarios where students and pupils have failed to get back to school simply because the fees is hiked every term with no clear justification but only one reason is always given, the economy is doing bad. This is always done by schools even without notification of the parents. Everyone has a right to education and it is unfortunate that the schools that are meant to promote this right are in actual sense violating it by their irregular fees causing many to drop off or not join at all-leaving education only for the rich. For instance, I have known schools that ask for more than UGX 1,500,000 as fees per term and this is without school requirements-which are by and large irregular. Some schools demand for materials like paint, barbed wires, rakes, spades, cement, brooms, 12 rolls of toilet papers, 12 reams of paper per student among others and one wonders whether their children are going to set up hardware and stationery shops or actually

Many churches have been conducting marriages while they have never been licensed to do so. I have come to know of churches that have conducted marriages yes they do not have any license. Under the Marriage Act, the Minister must grant license to the place of Worship and to the Celebrant of the wedding. It is not enough for a building to be licensed but the minister too should be licensed. I have noted that some churches especially those with branches use the umbrella cover of the parent church’s license to wed couples in at their local churches. What is interesting is that the Marriage certificate will contain details of the parent church yet in actual sense the wedding took place from somewhere else-which is fraud and may jeopardize the legality of that marriage. Couples therefore should always be mindful when considering where to wed. It is acceptable to demand the church to pronounce itself of its legal status as far as celebrating marriages is concerned and if this is so har