Prosecutors under their umbrella, the Uganda Association of Prosecutors have decried increased neglect by the Government of Uganda during the Covid-19 lockdown.
The Prosecutors raised the concerns through a statement by the Association to the public.
Prosecutors are government lawyers also referred to as State Attorneys that represent the State on conducting criminal investigations and prosecutions at police and court respectively. The ODPP is an independent institution similar to the IGG but is responsible for all criminal prosecutions in the country under article 120 of the constitution.
“As frontline workers in the Justice Law and order sector, we express our disappointment over government’s oversight in catering for prosecutors in the Covid 19 supplementary budget,” notes part of the letter.
The prosecutors are worried that even when they have heard several cases of Covid 19 at the Head office and the several outposts in the country, no one has come out to recognize their relevancy in the country’s budgeting processes.
“In the past months, we regrettably lost Omyulo Isaac, the state prosecutor in Mbale. UAP calls upon the top officials in the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions to address the issue of covering risks for our members who are exposed to Covid 19,” part of the document reads.
The attorneys claim, unlike the other stakeholders in the Justice Law and Order sector including the Police, Prisons and, the Judiciary who have been catered for in the previous Covid supplementary budgets, the prosecutors have never been, although they are frontline workers in their sector.
“To make matters worse, there have been further budget cuts in the quarterly release of the new financial year. This has significantly impacted on the delivery of the Criminal Justice in the country.” The statement reads.
The neglect comes years after they demanded a salary increment which was never honored by the Head of State, Judiciary and Government.
In 2017, then President of the Uganda Association of Prosecutors David Baxter Bakibinga led a month-long strike demanding a salary increase for all prosecutors, Senior Prosecutors and the resident State Attorneys across the country.
Government never honored the demands from the team ordering all to return to their duties until the government finds money to improve their pay.
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