'Collective management of rights violations will reduce court case backlogs'
"If we don’t manage human rights violations, we shall end up congesting the court, yet we are supposed to work together," Birungi says.
UHRC Commissioner Lamex Omara Apita (Centre) in a group photo with Lango stakeholders after the meeting at Margarita Hotel on Thursday. (Photos by Joseph Ekol)
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Lira High Court resident judge Sarah Birungi Kalibbala has asked stakeholders in Lango to collectively manage human rights violations during the election period.
"If we don’t manage human rights violations, we shall end up congesting the court, yet we are supposed to work together. Let each of us play a role to ensure this doesn’t happen during this period, and at the end of the day, we shall also be helping courts not to have backlogs or be congested with so many cases,” Birungi says.
She adds that they are expecting many cases of human rights violations after the election period because even before, the issues of human rights violations are going to be so many, requesting each of the stakeholders to play their respective roles such that human rights are not violated.
Lango stakeholders at a Strategic partnership meeting at Margarita Hotel in Lira City.
Justice Birungi made this call on December 4, 2025, at a strategic partnership meeting organised by the Uganda Human Rights Commission, attended by the selected stakeholders from security, the Judiciary, the media fraternity and the electoral officials in the Lango at Margarita Place Hotel in Lira City.
Uphold the rights of women
She also urged the stakeholders to uphold the rights of the women, especially in the inheritance of the properties of their deceased husbands.
“We have noticed culturally, the rights of the women are not upheld and recognised, especially with regards to inheritance or management of the deceased husband’s estates,” Justice Birungi noted.
She said this causes problems, suggesting that if this is not addressed by the stakeholders, the court will be congested since they are going to have many cases filed in courts.
“We need to address that, now, the responsibility goes back to cultural or religious leaders to sensitise and get people to know the act. It’s important that even women can own properties, even women can take a share when it comes to inheritance,” she explained.
Lamex Omara Apita, a member of the Uganda Human Rights Commission, who represented the chairperson in the meeting, thanked the security in the region for maintaining peace during the electoral period.
Commissioner Omara said since the electoral processes started, the region has largely been peaceful without any major human rights violations, unlike in other regions, and the UHRC has never registered many issues, unlike what they have observed in other regions where there were many violations even when people were just in the party primaries.
He, however, reminded the security of the major arrears to manage, including unbalanced political reporting that led to assault of the media practitioners by candidates and their supporters, hate speeches by candidates and their supporters and destruction of the campaign poster and materials as well as high tendency of voter bribery by some candidates, which causes a lot of violence.
Lango diocese bishop, Prof. Alfred Olwa, urged all security forces to ensure that citizens are protected but not intimidated, avoid excessive use of force and ensure campaigns and voting are done peacefully.
“Elections must strengthen democracy, not weaken trust because secure elections are one way the citizens can speak, vote and assemble without fear,” Bishop Olwa.
Regional Police spokesperson Patrick Jimmy Okema informed the meeting that they have already identified and profiled the suspects in the assault of a Lira-based radio journalist at Minister Betty Amongi’s campaign venue and that they are in hiding as Police look for them.
James Acar, the executive director of Lango NGO Forum, an umbrella that brings together all the NGOs and CSOs, said Lira city, Oyam and Dokolo have been marked as the hotspot for the possible electoral violence, which calls for early humanisation by various stakeholders.
Before proceeding to the meeting, the team visited Lira Mains Prison, where they registered overcrowding as a major challenge in the facility.
UHRC thanked the court for the Lira High Court Circuit and the subordinate courts, in collaboration with the Office of the DPP, for demonstrating the commitment towards the adherence to human rights of the detainees, through the conclusive delivery of justice on several prolonged post-comitial and prolonged reprimand detentions which existed in the past.
The officials also implored the court to continue the efforts of decongesting the already overcrowded prison through alternative measures, such as plea bargains, to settle the matters.