UGANDA: PLEA BARGAIN IS THE ESSENCE OF “MATO OPUT” AFRICAN JURISPRUDENCE JUSTICE SYSTEM WHERE SOCIETY ADMIT HEINOUS CRIMES SOLVING BLOOD MONEY-JUSTICE DOLLO.

Chief Justice Owiny Dollo made Gulu Prison center

Let me give you the success of plea bargain in this country, in five-year, plea bargain programs have moved 35,000 people in prison who benefited from it, they have now become convicts, this means Every year 7,000 prisoners gain access, this means the government could have taken 15 years to finish this big number.

GULU CITY-UGANDA: Chief Justice A. Owiny Dollo Cigamio says, but the most important contributions of plea bargain are that by admitting that you did wrong it is a massive push towards achieving reconciliation between you, the    wrong doers and the wounded family.

“the process that ended with Mato Oput is folded on plea bargain admission, then the mediator moves between parties until they settle. That is okay, the nature of the offense.

Verbatim

It was deliberate, it was accidental, it was mistaken identity, it was provocation and so on and so on. Then they decide what compensation will be, until you settle it through reconciliation. Professor Dewath in fact plea bargain is not foreign to this country, we were even ahead of you the European, because we lived with it, but the essence of our African jurisprudence, adjudication is really for the criminal wrong is the plea bargain.”

Once you admit then the society will say Okay, if you take life the way society dictates you should not take lives but you have to pay compensation. Then the matter ends and you build bridges and finally you reconcile.

Knowledge of this traditional process of blood compensation should be made then help you in rebuilding between you and the people who remain at home of “Culu Kwor” compensation

“For those who know you have committed crimes this time, this is the opportunity for your free will, it is for your valuations to come forward and say yes I did it, don’t even bother to look for witnesses who say I have done wrong. Like Latina word says “me akulba” except forgiveness, say I did it, forgive me, my fault” or “my mistake” and is an acknowledgement of having done wrong.

I also know this, that  because of our strong traditional roots, while the government locked you up for the wrong done, once you have admitted that you have done it ,we start the process of our tradition process, knowledge of this traditional process will help you in lowering the sentence, because everybody would like to go back to society in rebuilding strong re-broken society foundation, they will pay compensation culu Kwor and then when you go back home and nobody will lynch you, “ngat ma nene ki wang ma kwar dong opeke. “

Back to the prosecutor, I would like to emphasis two issues, my sister Director of Public Prosecutions, my lady justice Jean Abodo talked so much about this, please as much as possible let us involved the victims of crimes, at least somebody should reach out to them if they cannot come, to find out  their thinking, ultimately the decision is for court to make, but,  let us source out about them , let us establish how they feel,  let us find out their thinking so that we know what they think. Although this decision will help us to arriving equitable.

Let them understand that somebody they would expect to be hanged, and should be convicted 50 years of life sentence, let them understand why is not that. When they come they are 90 years let them understand

Let me say for our society as I have said early, for our society that the society which does not condone death penalty, this will help to supplement the justice system Mato Oput since our society does not have provision of death sentence, the highest blood money(reparation) society should get to heal much easy, this should trigger the traditional justice system Mato Oput compensation to help process of reconciliation and truth telling.

Let me give you the success of plea bargain in this country, in five-year, plea bargain programs have moved 35,000 people in prison who benefited from it, they have now become convicts, this means Every year 7,000 prisoners gain access, this means the government could have taken 15 years to finish this big number.