Commercial Court Choking on UGX 11 Billion Insurance Case Backlog

(Kampala) – There is always something dramatic going on in Ugandan courts. If it is not land wrangles over a few hectares of bibanja, it is larger than life insurance disputes. This time around, the Commercial Division of the High Court finds itself knee deep in UGX 11 billion worth of insurance cases, and from the look of things, justice is moving at a pace that would make a snail look like Usain Bolt.

On September 18, 2024, Justice Anna Mugenyi, the no nonsense deputy head of the Commercial Court Division, dropped the bombshell during a meeting between court leadership and insurance executives. It was not just any typical sit down where people politely sip tea and nibble on mandazi. This was a full blown crisis meeting, designed to figure out why there were 37 pending insurance related cases valued at UGX 11 billion sitting in the court’s dusty files.

“We are drowning in cases! Something has to give,” Mugenyi practically said, albeit in a more diplomatic tone. To be honest, if any kimeeza (round table discussion) needed to happen, it was this one. The stakes were high, with insurance companies desperate for a way out of the legal quagmire. After all, no one likes their hard earned billions tied up in the court system, especially not insurers who prefer money flowing in one direction—towards them.

According to Justice Mugenyi, the solution lies in education—like telling a teacher to solve every problem by teaching. She suggested that insurance stakeholders team up with the Judicial Training Institute (JTI) to train judicial officers on insurance matters. That way, when a case about a missing car or an unpaid claim lands on their desks, they won’t  be scratching their heads or flipping through their textbooks like nervous students cramming for PLE.

While this sounds good on paper, one has to wonder if more training is really the magic solution to fix an entire court system that is seemingly moving slower than the Kampala traffic on a rainy Monday morning.

Justice Stephen Mubiru, the head of the Commercial Division, had a different view. He admitted that while there aren’t too many insurance cases clogging up the court system, the few that do land there carry a weight bigger than a fully loaded tata lorry. UGX 11 billion is not pocket change; it is enough to buy half the goats in Karamoja!

“We need feedback,” Mubiru said, practically begging the insurance bodies for input on how to make the court more efficient. He said when judges are stuck adjudicating cases worth billions, it helps to know whether they are on the right track—or just pushing papers in circles like a malfunctioning Kavera recycling machine.

Justice Thomas Ocaya, clearly someone with a keen eye for modern solutions, was not about to sit back and watch the court drown in these cases. He boldly declared that the Judiciary is leaning heavily on Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), particularly mediation, to lighten the load. In other words, if we can’t get through this mountain of cases the normal way, we might as well call in the referees to help us sort it out like two football teams squabbling over a penalty.

Mediation is the new buzzword. It’s like calling the village elder to help sort out a family feud over who gets to graze their cows where—only this time, instead of cows, it’s about millions in insurance claims. Plus, thanks to technology, courts are no longer bound by walls. With the Electronic Court Case Management Information System (or that thing with the long name), cases can be heard faster, remotely, and without the need for everyone to squeeze into a stuffy courtroom like it’s a village wedding with free malwa.

Francesca Kakooza, the representative from the Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA), couldn’t agree more. She pointed out that they were already chatting with JTI about training judicial officers on insurance issues. The hope here is that by the time the next big insurance case rolls in, everyone will be ready—armed with legal knowledge and an upgraded tech savvy system.

Gone are the days when witnesses had to endure long bus rides from far off districts like Kanungu, only to sit in court for hours waiting for their five minutes of fame. Now, with a video conferencing system, they can testify from the comfort of their homes, maybe even with a cup of chai in hand.

The insurance executives left the meeting with a sigh of relief, happy to know that someone was finally listening. Whether these meetings and suggestions will bear fruit remains to be seen. Meanwhile, the judges can only hope that their caseload will shrink before they themselves age out of the system.