Uganda's parliament has passed the Magistrates Courts (Amendment) Bill, 2026, which, once assented to by the President, will introduce reforms that include increasing the financial jurisdiction of magistrates.
- •The proposed law expands the authority of chief magistrates to handle higher value cases with their civil jurisdiction increased to USh 200 million (~USD 53, 000), and that of a magistrate increased from USh 20 million to USh 50 million.
- •The reforms are meant to reduce case backlog in the High Court and positions chief magistrates as more central in handling commercial, land, family, and civil disputes that previously escalated to higher courts.
- •The Bill also sought to increase the pecuniary jurisdiction of magistrate's courts, enhance their powers to impose higher fines, abolish the position of magistrates grade II and provide for transitional provisions.
“The capping of the value of the subject matter is very low for the magistrates courts… cases that should be handled at the magisterial level end up in the High Court thereby causing backlog,” Hon. Stephen Baka Mugabi, the Chairperson of the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee, said.
The Bill also abolishes the position of magistrates grade II aligning the Act with the Judiciary’s current structure, since its already abolished under the Judiciary Service structure where the position had already been removed administratively but was still reflected in the Magistrates Courts Act.
The law also empowers chief magistrates to transfer cases filed in courts without jurisdiction instead of dismissing them outright.
Currently, courts lacking jurisdiction must dismiss such cases, forcing litigants to refile and incur additional costs.
