The Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) Jane Frances Abodo has clocked 100 days in office as DPP since she assumed office in April.
On April = 2, 2020, Justice Jane Frances Abodo was appointed as the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in Uganda. Before her current assignment she served as a High Court Judge, in the court’s Criminal Division, from February 2018 until April 2020.
On taking oath, she pledged to consolidate the gains registered by my predecessors and to meet planned targets, in particular, internal structural re-organization and staffing, re-tooling and re-skilling staff, among others.
Reflecting on the first 100 days, Abodo said together with the Top Management, Senior Management and staff, the office has registered a number of achievements in spite of the challenging times, particularly, in the face of the #Covid-19 pandemic.
“Specialized Units have been established and existing ones re-organized and their reporting mechanism streamlined in order to ensure that the institution has the right skills placed in the right places. Special assignments and Task forces have been created to handle and execute urgent assignments, and improve efficiency” She said
She said during the months of June and July 2020, the ODPP was involved in plea bargaining camps at Masindi, Nakasongola, Gulu, Mbarara and Masaka Prisons. The plea bargaining sessions resulted into 503 convictions from all the five regions visited.
“A new performance reporting template was created for reporting on performance under each departmental objective and target under MPS, SIP, JLOS, Cross cutting issues, other activities etc. This will ensure that all reports including session reports are received, utilised and acted upon.” She said
The ODPP has revamped the electronic mail system to a unified messaging and communication system whose services include email, messaging, chats and calls, tasks, work groups, drive, calendar, time and report, workflow, meeting and briefings. The system will act as a secure platform to protect official communications among the staff of the ODPP.
She lauded members of the Top Management, Senior Management and the staff for their cooperation.
“I thank our stakeholders for their contributions to the realization of the mandate and vision of the ODPP. Together we can make it. Provision of Criminal Justice requires concerted effort. The ODPP cannot effectively execute and deliver on its mandate in the absence of the Executive, Parliament, Judiciary, the Police, the Prisons, and Advocates among others.” She applauded.
Sources within the justice sector told Eagle Online that whereas under her predecessor some cases considered political would sail through without enough evidence, under her leadership, it is becoming hard to propagate a case without substantial evidence.
