The Judiciary is set to roll out in all courts the system where case files will be electronically generated and tracked.
While meeting the Chief Justice Bart Katureebe at his office on Friday, Dr Ashot Hovanesian, the president of Synergy International Systems, a firm that was awarded the contract to automate the courts about two months ago, said the exercise has so far been successful in courts where it was piloted.
Justice Katureebe said the automation of courts should be able to solve the case backlog as well as eliminating cases of corruption.
The Secretary to Judiciary, Mr Pius Bigirimana, said that by May next year, the first phase of the automation will have commenced in at least 19 court stations within the Kampala metropolitan area which will include the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal and the subordinate courts.
The Electronic Court Case Management Information System (ECCMIS) once completed, will track progress of all aspects of a case’s cycle from the initial filing through the trial up to appeal.
The Judiciary is currently using the Court Case Administration System (CCAS) which is prone to corruption.
Dr Hovanesian added that a three-member team from the Synergy International Systems is expected in Uganda to back up the exercise.
The ECCMIS will provide a portal where one logs in and then captures the progress of his or her case file. The system will have security safeguards to ensure he/she accesses only court information he/ she is entitled to and also deter them from corrupting the data.
Once it is in place, the system will reduce contact between court users and judicial officers thereby lessening chances of corruption and quicken processes and enable litigants to know progress of their respective cases.
