Rushni County LC1 Chairman warned over legal costs

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Amos Tayebwa

Mbarara

LC1 chairmen of Rushenyi sub-county in Ntungamo district have been warned to be wary of charging fees for registration of cases in local council courts within their respective jurisdictions.

Officials from the Ministry of Local Government gave this warning. LC1 chairpersons are considered as judges at the local council level tribunal, but they should set court fees in favour of those who register cases at that level.

During the recent session, some 267 LC1 chairpersons, 31 LC2 chairpersons and 7 LC3 chairpersons gathered at the Rubare All Saints Church in Rubare town, Rucheni county, to receive training on the role of the Local Council Courts and the quality of local justice administration services.

The training was organized by the Ministry of Local Government in collaboration with the office of Rusheni County Councillor Naome Kabasharira, who lobbied the chairpersons of lower level local councils through the office of the Permanent Secretary to hold the training.

At the same meeting, the LC1 Chairman was asked about the court fees they charge people when handling cases and it was found that the Chairman charges different fees depending on the size of the case. It was found that the fees they charge range from Sh20,000 to Sh60,000.

The Commissioner for Local Council Development in the Ministry of Local Government, Swizin Kinga Mugyema, said they intend to train all LC1, LC2 and LC3 courts to ensure they provide quality services in local administration of justice.

Mugyema urged the police to stop interfering with the local council courts in cases that should be handled by the local council chairpersons. He also asked the local councils to avoid handling cases that should be handled by the police. Mugyema revealed that the local council court system is designed to help people reduce the cost of going to the higher courts for simple issues in the community. He disclosed that studies have shown that most Ugandans seek justice through the local council court system.

Commissioner Mujema also condemned the situation where people were demanding high compensation when registering cases in the local council courts.

“We do not allow people to charge exorbitant fees for registering cases, the fees are clearly stated in the regulations and we have handed over the regulations to these leaders so people should not be charged too much money. The fee of Sh5,000 will help register cases and people should be able to get justice at the local level because when you charge high fees, you make it expensive to get justice and that goes against the logic of introducing the local council system in the law,” Mujema said

Councillor Naome Kabasharira said local council leaders believed they had to charge fees based on the size of the case. She said it would be great if all local council courts charged a uniform fee, but that would require a lot of debate. However, she revealed that it should also depend on the size of the caseload in their courts.

“It will take a lot of debate to come to a sensible solution because if the fees are the same, some cases will be unfair or different, so it should also be like in the courts, they don’t charge everyone the same amount, they charge according to the case, similarly, even these local council courts, they charge different amounts according to the case. It should be decided by the chairperson of the local council, they are the judge at that level, and they decide the fee according to the type of case.

“But I encourage them not to cross the line and charge fees that they shouldn’t. I hope we can reach a consensus, nonetheless, these local council chairmen have done a lot of work and without them, we and the government will also have problems. So overall, if they are to do their work fearlessly, I tell you, the local councils will be the best courts,” said Councillor Kabasarila.