Rukungiri – There is alot of excitement in Rukungiri district following the establishment and opening of the Rukungiri high court building that has opened up chances for thousands of residents to access timely high court judgements. The new opened high court building is going to benefit Rukungiri and Kanungu residents.
Before the opening of this building, the high court was operating in the Rukungiri chief magistrate court building and it would affect Some people to get timely and cheap judgements due to lack of enough space for court operations.
Besides giving timely judgements, the new high court building will also bring peace and stability in the districts of Kanungu and Rukungiri because ” we are going to organise community gatherings aiming at sensitizing them on rule of law Justice Susan Kanyange , the Rukungiri resident judge said during the official opening of the new High court building that took place at premises in Eastern Division, Rukungiri Municipality yesterday 30th.May .2025.
“The resident judge Ms Kanyange added ” all cases that were not heard due to lack of space originating Rukungiri and Kanungu districts will be timely handled since the Court House is now open “.
The commissioned court building was constructed by the Government of Uganda and it was contracted to Hebron Investment Company Ltd at a cost of 1.62 billion Uganda shillings.
While commissioning the facility, Uganda ‘s deputy Chief Justice, Justice Dr. Flavian Zeija, said the commissioned building will help the court to reduce the backlog of cases and the long distances people from Rukungiri and Kanungu districts have been traveling to Kabale for justice.
” Bringing justice closer to the people has been a long-standing goal of the Judiciary’s transformation agenda asking the Resident Judge to ensure timely justice by embracing best practices such as scheduling clear hearing dates, offering excellent customer care, maintaining proper archives and exhibit stores, and upholding a zero-tolerance policy on corruption”. Justice Zeija said.
Speaking at the same event, the Principal Judge, Justice Jane Okuo Kajuga, said “Judiciary aims at improving physical access to justice by taking services closer to the people. I therefore call for professionalism among court officers”.
The principal judge also asked the court officials to serve clients with love and fairness asking the public to hold court officials accountable for any misconduct.
The Assistant Registrar for Rukungiri High Court, Ms Atigo Hellen, said since the establishment of the high court, the court has registered 640 criminal cases, 930 civil cases, 180 family cases, and 185 land matters.
” The current workload includes 268 criminal cases, 270 civil cases, 58 family cases, and 93 land matters while 120 civil cases ,208 criminal cases were transferred from Kabale High Court to Rukungiri high court and most of these have already been concluded” she said.
What leaders and locals said about the commissioned building?.
The Rukungiri Municipality area Member of Parliament Dr. Elisa Rutahigwa, welcomed the court’s establishment, saying it will greatly reduce the burden of traveling to Kabale for justice.
” The commissioning of this building will greatly help the community because our court officials have been operating in a small space that couldn’t allow excute their duties well so this building is a blessing to Rukungiri and Kanungu people ” Dr Rutahigwa said.
The Rukungiri district chairperson Mr Geoffery Kyomukama , said the establishment and opening of the new high court building in Rukungiri town is a big relief to the people of Rukungiri and Kanungu districts plus the court officials.
‘’With the opening of Rukungiri high court building, court officials have got a relief because they have been working in a small space and it could affect our people from getting timely judgements because our people have been travelling to kabale district searching for high court services”. Mr Kyomukama said.
Eng. Sam Kajojo, the Kanungu district chairperson said the new high court building in Rukungiri will help Kanungu than any other district in the region.
‘’Kanungu is a difficult place in terms of transport and from here to Kabale district is more diffcult than travelling from Rukungiri to kabale because the two district has a good connecting road.
Therefore seeking high court judgement from Kabale used to cost us alot in terms of transport’’ Eng. Kajojo said.
The chairperson added that ‘’we are extremely happy with this building because travelling from Kanungu to Rukungiri is more cheaper since we have more than ten buses that leaves Kanungu to Rukungiri on a daily basis and this will make it easy for our common people to access high court services’’.
Mr Joseph Mugisha, a resident of Bwambara sub- county Rukungiri district said the establishment and opening of a high court building in Rukungiri has relieved court officials from the burden of working in congested place and it will help us as local people to get timely judgements.‘
“’ 2 years I had case in Rukungiri magistrates’ court but it was transferred to kabale high court and i never went there due to lack of resources to feed and transport witnesses. So when heard that we also has a high court in Rukungiri i felt some relief because they are many who failed to get justice because of distance and money ’’.He said.
Ms Mbabazi Mary of Kanungu town council in Kanungu town council is so optimistic that the establishment of high court in Rukungiri is of a great importance to us the people of Kanungu.
‘’ We thank God that we are finally going to have justice for the case that we were battling with our uncle in Kabale high court. God answered our prayers and our case was transferred from Kabale to Rukungiri which a bite near compared to Kabale. At times we would miss court session because of being too far and lack of money but this time it won’t happen again because we can walk and reach Rukungiri on foot ’’. she said.
The Rukungiri High Court Circuit is among six new High Courts that were operationalized on 18th September, 2022. Others include Luwero, Moroto, Tororo, Iganga, and Hoima Circuits.
