The Uganda Law Society (ULS) has raised concerns over what it describes as a growing shift towards “opaque e-justice,” warning that recent electronic case management directions issued in the high-profile Besigye case risk undermining constitutional guarantees of fair hearing, open justice and equality of arms.
In a press statement released on Tuesday, the Society criticized the case management directions issued on 17 July 2026 by Justice Simon Peter M. Kinobe in High Court Miscellaneous Application No. 0248 of 2026, involving Dr Kizza Besigye and Hajji Obeid Lutale against Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba and the Attorney General.
A copy of the Press Statement can be accessed here:
According to the ULS, the directions impose stringent electronic filing deadlines under the Judiciary’s Electronic Court Case Management Information System (ECCMIS) while failing to account for litigants who may lack reliable access to computers, internet connectivity, legal representation or other basic resources required to participate effectively in digital proceedings.
The Society argues that such requirements disproportionately disadvantage vulnerable litigants, particularly incarcerated applicants, and risk transforming technology from a tool that expands access to justice into one that restricts it.
The statement further links the concerns to the Society’s earlier advisory issued on 4 June 2026 in response to the Chief Justice’s Administrative Circular No. 1 of 2026. In that advisory, the ULS questioned whether the Judiciary’s digital transformation framework sufficiently safeguards constitutional principles of transparency, public accountability and open justice.
According to the Society, the latest case management directions reinforce those concerns by emphasizing administrative efficiency without corresponding safeguards for public and media access to court proceedings and records.
Read also: A Paperless Judiciary: Why Aren’t We Ready?
The ULS also questioned the practicality of requiring incarcerated applicants to comply with tight electronic timelines while the respondents—senior government officials represented by the State—enjoy significantly greater institutional resources.
The Society maintains that this imbalance threatens the constitutional principle of equality of arms and may compromise the right to a fair hearing guaranteed under Article 28 of the Constitution.
Beyond timelines, the statement criticizes the absence of mandatory pre-hearing scheduling conferences in complex constitutional litigation and warns that the Judiciary has yet to establish adequate contingency protocols for power outages, internet disruptions and system failures that could affect electronic proceedings.
The Uganda Law Society called upon the trial judge to review the directions and adopt realistic procedural timelines that ensure meaningful participation by all parties.
It also renewed its call for the rescission of the Chief Justice’s Administrative Circular No. 1 of 2026 and urged the Judiciary to develop a revised digital justice framework that expressly subordinates electronic court administration to constitutional guarantees of openness, fairness and equal access to justice.
The statement concludes with a warning that digital innovation must remain a servant of justice rather than its master.
“Justice that cannot be seen or accessed by the people is no justice at all,” the Society said.
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Enen Ambrose. Advocate
Member, Judiciary Affairs Committee,
Uganda Law Society
& Founder–Enen Legal World
enen@enenlegalworld.com
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