Legal experts are calling on the judiciary to abolish the use of court assessors arguing that they are no longer relevant to the current judicial system in criminal trials.
Court assessors listen to the proceedings, evaluate evidence and a case on court record and give their opinion at the end of a trial. They can advise a judge to either acquit or prosecute the suspect.
An assessor earns 20,000 shillings per day with a total of 400,000 shillings per month. The constitution makes provision for two assessors to assist the Judge. Each Judge is allocated four assessors who assist in handling 35 cases per month.
However, most judgments normally differ from the assessors’ opinion.
Jane Amooti Magdalene, a legal officer working on the decongestion programme at the Uganda Law Society, says the assessors’ irrelevance is due to their lack of legal knowledge.
Amooti, who is also a defence counsel, says an advocate is able to evaluate the evidence before court but assessors’ cannot. She notes that it is time the judicial system provided capacity building for assessors if they are to be retained.
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However, Hebert Ojuka, an assessor at the High Court, believes their opinion as the layman’s representatives is relevant. Ojuka however, agrees that sometimes they fail to understand some cases due to legal technicalities yet they are expected to give their opinion to the Judge.
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Human rights lawyer Ladislaus Rwakafuzi adds that assessors are not relevant since their advice to the judge on a matter is not binding. Rwakafuzi explains that assessors were introduced by colonialists who needed better understanding of the local language, customs and culture and facts of the case.
However, currently all the judges are local and have a common understanding of local events thus the need to abolish assessors.
Nicholas Opio, a lawyer and political commentator, also argues that in the past there were no defence lawyers or prosecutors to argue out a case. Currently, Opio says, there is a complete fair hearing of a matter which includes appearance of relevant witnesses to the matter. He recommends that the law be amended to relieve the assessors of what he calls a rather redundant duty.
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However, Erias Kisauzi, the Judiciary spokesperson argues that due to their layman opinion in a case, the assessors are still very relevant and their presence is a sign of transparency in the judicial system.
