By Gladys Mukisa.
Fright with discomfort is growing among several judicial officers at the Ugandan Higher and Lower Court levels, arising from the increased scrutiny mooted to root out reported mediocrity from the Courtroom work by the newly introduced Performance Enhancement Tool (PET) technology.
The PET web-based performance management system which was launched in October 2025 by the retired Chief Justice (CJ) Chigamoy Owiny Dollo, is aimed at monitoring and evaluating the judicial officers and administrative staff work performance.
It has now emerged from some of the senior officers of Court that since the crowning of justice Flavian Zeija the current CJ early this year, the judiciary has not remained the same administratively.
According to the Court officers, many judicial officers are in the mood of pressing the panic buttons following the heightened scrutiny into their work performance by the CJ Zeija.
Zeija, according to the insiders every month orders for the display of a particular judicial officer’s performed work on the screens as he holds them accountable, in line with the set-out targets aimed at addressing among other reported setbacks; judicial impunity and laziness from the institution.
Officers of Court familiar with Zeija’s modus operandi, described him as a very strict and focused man in as far as implementing policies and decisions administratively is concerned, with the PET system not spared either, which has heightened fear among non-performers.
The new electronic judicial officer’s appraisal system is based on the case disposal set targets for judicial officers under which every High Court judge is required to dispose of 300 cases every year translating into 25 cases per month, Chief Magistrate 600 cases every year translating into 50 cases monthly, while a Registrars 400 annually translating into 33 cases monthly.
The system according to the judicial powers, introduces a 360-degree appraisal model incorporating input from supervisors, peers, subordinates, lawyers, and litigants.
Once the announcers of the Court decisions fully acclimatize the system, the existential case backlog threat, which dropped from 26.3% in FY 2023/24 to 24.2% in FY 2024/25 with over 46,000 cases remain pending, will be addressed.
