Plea Bargaining Initiative Launched in Katojo Prison

FORT PORTAL: At least 200 accused persons from Katojo Prison in Fort Portal are to benefit from Plea Bargaining initiative.

Unlike the previous launches, this Access to Justice Initiative was launched on August 24, 2015 was taken directly to the accused persons inside a prison.

The Principal Judge, Hon. Dr. Justice Yorokamu Bamwine, who chairs the Plea Bargaining Task Force led a team of key members of the Criminal Justice System from Kampala to the launch in Fort Portal.

Said Hon. Justice Dr Bamwine: "In the past, focus has been on District Coordination Committees (comprised representatives of key Justice Law and Order institutions), but now it is turning to the other stakeholders, the accused persons.

He said the instant results of the Plea Bargaining programme would weed out a number of recurring inefficiencies such like absentee judicial officers, case backlog, and overstay of remand prisoners in prison. 

Ronald Mugisa, a man accused of defiling a 15-year-old was the pioneer inmate to benefit from the Plea Bargaining programme in Fort Portal. After pleading guilty to the charges and appearing remorseful during the process, he was handed a five-year prison sentence. The area State Attorney, Adams Wasswa, said all the parties involved had come to an agreement, and that both the victim and her father had forgiven him.

Hon. Justice Dr. Bamwine said that in developed countries, most criminal cases are plea bargained, which avoids lengthy trials. "If well handled, this is the best approach for an offender, so embrace it." 

During an interface with the prisoners, an inmate, Mr. Fred Tumwine, who has been on remand since 2011 on a robbery charge, wanted to know his fate since the police file cannot be traced. Hon. Justice Bamwine said that the area Resident Judge, Hon. Justice David Batema, would make a ruling on the matter.

The Hon. Principal Judge, Hon. Justice Dr. Bamwine (above second Right standing , Hon. Justice Batema (standing right below) and Mugisa (with a prisons officer) after getting his sentence

Many prisoners were eager to know how they could be enrolled on the programme.  Mr. Andrew Khaukha, the coordinator of the Plea Bargaining Task Force, advised them to register with the prison in- charge who will forward their names to the registrar High Court to cause list, then a plea bargaining session can be held.  Since last year when the pilot was undertaken, there has been a lot of capacity building that has been done.

In July, during the National Plea Bargaining Conference in Kampala, the Chief Justice, Hon. Justice Bart Katureebe, appealed to Judges to embrace the Plea Bargaining the initiative. He said, "the current backlog calls for extra ordinary measures and plea bargaining is one of them."

Court of Appeal’s Hon. Justice Geoffrey Kiryabwire said there is need for a monitoring and evaluation tool to gauge the quality of Plea Bargaining sessions.

Asked why there is only an initiative for people willing to plead guilty yet there are many people in jails who claim to be wrongly accused, Khaukha says the initiative helps such people as well. He said: "while this initiative can only be piloted to people willing to plead guilty, the initiative frees criminal sessions for people with pleas of not guilty".

According to Mr. Khaukha, 200 accused persons who have embraced the Plea Bargaining programme in Fort Portal helped the Judiciary to make a saving of Shs140 million which would have been spent on ordinary trials. A case handled under Plea Bargaining costs the Judiciary about UShs300, 000, compared to the UShs1 million budget for a case under the conventional trial mechanism.