ICT IN THE UGANDA JUDICIARY
A PAPER PRESENTED AT THE
AFRICANLII WORKSHOP
BY
JOSEPH SSINABULYA
PROGRAMMER- UGANDA JUDICIARY
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13-Apr-15
PRESENTATION OUTLINE
1. Introduction to ICT in the Judiciary
2. Functions of ICT in the Judiciary
3. Structure of the ICT Section
4. Management of ICT in the Judiciary
5. Judiciary ICT Service Catalogue
6. Judiciary ICT Infrastructure
7. Constraints and Challenges
8. Conclusion
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INTRODUCTION
i. Goal of application of ICT in Legal Profession
• To Provide the legal profession, judicial fraternity with up to
date computerized technology that renders speedy justice
with better legal outputs through a range of ICT services.
ii.
ICT Service Catalogue – Is a database or structured
document with information about all live ICT Services, including
those available for deployment and is available to users so as
to support the application of ICT in the delivery of Justice.
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functions of ict in the judiciary
1. Alignment of ICT with the Judiciary business
requirements
2. Delivery of the right ICT services to meet the Judiciary
requirements;
3. Guiding Users on the effective utilization of ICT and
awareness of the risks and responsibilities involved;
4. To ensure continued availability of ICT services with
minimal disruption
5. Safeguarding information and ICT components
6. Co-ordination of ICT related procurement
7. Accountability & management of ICT resources
Our Ultimate goal is to have e-justice implemented in CoJ.
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structure of the judiciAry ict UNIT
PROPOSED ICT DEPARTMENT STAFFING STRUCTURE
Tech. Implementation Committee
COMMISSIONER ICT (1)
ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT
SECRETARY
OFFICE ASSISTANT
ASS. COMMISSIONER ICT (1)
DRIVERS (1)
PRINCIPAL IM OFFICER (1)
SIMO (1)
PRINCIPAL IT OFFICER
SENIOR ICT TRAINER (1)
PROGRAMMER
SAD
NETWORKS
STASTICIAN (1)
INTRANET
OFFICER
ASS. HELP DESK
(REGIONAL 6)
IMO (1)
ASS. IMO
(REGIONAL 6)
ASS. STASTICIAN (1)
SENIOR IT MAINTENANCE
OFFICER (1)
SITO
ICT TRAINING OFFICER
HELP
DESK
PRINCIPAL COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER (1)
SAD
SECURITY & DR
SAD
APPL & DATABASES
SYSTEMS
ANALYST (1)
SENIOR COM. OFF (1)
IT MAINT. OFFICER (1)
COMM. OFFICER (1)
SADS
(REGIONAL)
WEB
MASTER
ASS. SAD N/W (1)
ASS. PROG (1)
ASS. SAD
SECURITY (1)
ASS. SYS.
ANALYSIS (1)
ASS.IT MAINT.
OFFICER (1)
ASS. COMM
OFFICER (1)
DECS
ASS.SAD
APPL & DBs (1)
ASS. SADS (REGIONAL) (6)
ASS. ICT TRAINING OFFICERS
(REGIONAL 6)
DECS (6)
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Management of ICT in the Judiciary
1. Strategic Management (Top level planning and
approvals of ICT implementations)
• ICT Technology Committee/ Law Reporting Committee: Overall
responsibility of developing, implementing and reviewing the ICT Strategy,
membership: Justices/Judges, Chief Registrar, Secretary to the Judiciary, All Registrars,
D/Regs , All Administrative Heads, C/M’s of major Magistrates Courts
• Secretary to the Judiciary: Top-level provision of approvals and funding for
all ICT.
• Registrar of Planning & Development: Top-Level planning and coordination
of the ICT Donor supported projects (DANIDA, JLOS, etc.).
2. Operational Mgt:
Is by the PITO, SITO, Programmer and other SADs
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The Need for CASE INFORMATION
1. Efficient Management, Budgeting and Resource
Allocation: Statistics aid management in planning, decision
making and resource allocation.
2. An aid to Monitoring, Control and Evaluation: By providing
information about performance and the extent of deviations
from planned levels of performance.
3. Research and scholarly purposes: For the provision of a
framework for research on operations of the Judiciary-ULII.
4. Judiciary Physical & Financial Performance;
5. Justification of performance for Donor Financing
6. Address Public Inquiries.
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Consumers of the Information
1. Court Stations which generate the information
First –line consumers
planning for case disposal, justification of increase in operational
funds, performance monitoring, reporting to higher levels
Regional Circuits


2.


Second‐line consumers
Planning for case disposal at a regional level, performance
monitoring of the stations, reporting to headquarters
3. Head Office (High Court – Kampala) and Data Center
 Third‐line consumers of the information
 For planning for case disposal at a national level, performance
monitoring of the stations, reporting to higher levels
 Central Repository of all Judiciary Information
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Consumers of the Information
6. Registry of Planning & Development

Developing realistic plans
7. The Justice, law and order sector

To justify funds releases and other resources.
8. Cabinet (through the Uganda bureau of Statistics)

The eventual consumer of information is the Government

Judiciary information is a component of the entire Government
statistics
9. The Public
 Judiciary is accountable to the public because it operates using tax
payers money.
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THE JUDICIARY ICT SERVICE
CATALOGUE
(coverage)
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1. Court Case Administration System
(CCAS)
Use:
CCAS Reports e.g:
• Case Statistics per Judicial Officer (completed, pending)
• Case maintenance information
• Etc
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Knowledge Sharing
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2. Summary Statistics System (SSS)
Use:
1. Generation of Quick Summary Statistics Reports
2. Compares with the CCAS
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3. Management Information System
(MIS)
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4. Court Recording & Transcription
System (DCRTS)
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5. Fixed Assets Management System
(FAMS)
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6. Computer Inventory System (CIS)
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8. Service Desk (SD)
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THE UGANDA JUDICIARY WEBSITE
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THE Judiciary Intranet
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THE ULII for Research
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Others
1.Email System (Ms Exchange Server)
2.Intranet (MoSS),TMG & Internet service
3.Other Initiatives; ICT Strategy & Policy
4.Judiciary Training Mgt System
5.IFMS and IPPS
6.BCDR Strategy and Operational DR site
7. Future; Video Conferencing & CCTV
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Current Major ICT
Initiatives
1. Re‐engineering the Court Case
Administration System (CCAS); to cater for
enhanced requirements
2. Institution of an ICT Model Court/ Disaster
Recovery Centre
3. Recruitment of more staff in the ICT Division
4. Joining the National Backbone infrastru/ E-Gov
5. Legal Assistance Kiosks; To assist litigants with
information on court procedures & processes
6. Equipping Upcountry Courts with ICT Equip’t
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The Judiciary LAN/WAN
Infrastructure
High Court Network Diagram
MTN Network
1mb to Internet
Anti Corruption Court
Gulu
Crusader
Commercial
Court
Supreme Court
512kbps
Lira
Arua
128K Leased Line
512kbps
Cisco 1760
Registry of Planning & Development (Danida)
- Registrar – Palnning and Development,
- Senior Economist
Masaka
256K Leased Line
128K Leased Line
128K Leased Line
128K Leased Line 128K Leased Line
Jinja
128K Leased Line 128K Leased Line
128K Leased Line
Judicial Studies Institute (JSI)
- Registrar – Research and
training
128K Leased Line
ISA 2004 FIREWALL
128K Leased Line
Mengo
Database
Court of Appeal
Printers
Servers
Cisco 3700
192.168.0.0/24
Proposed Link
XXX
Existing Link
XXX
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Constraints & Challenges
1. Lack to top Judicial Administration
enthusiasm to embrace ICT
2. Untimely (Region Submission Status)/
wrong submission of statistical returns
(Region Sample Data)
3. Reluctance in supervision/ usage of the
Information Systems and/or updating of
information in the computer systems
4. Resistance to Change towards the use of
ICT in the Judiciary
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Constraints & Challenges (cont..)
5. Inadequate awareness of the benefits of ICT
6. Untimely reporting of ICT problems
7. Insufficient funding for the maintenance of
computer systems and equipment
8. Insufficient Staffing
ICT Technical, Dedicated Data Entry Clerks, Court Reporters and
Transcribers
9. Insufficient provision of facilitation for
training [both for Technical staff & end Users]
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DISCUSSION
AFRICANLII (UGANDA)
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