The week ending saw Uganda mark 30 years of the existence of the 1995 Constitution. In the run-up to the commemoration, a series of events was lined up.
Outgoing Deputy Chief Justice Richard Buteera, while presiding over the launch of the first compendium of public interest litigation cases in Uganda since 1996, decried the non-compliance of court orders, especially by the other two arms of government, the Executive and Legislature.
He cited the Supreme Court’s decision in the Amama Mbabazi vs Yoweri Museveni election petition of 2016, in which the justices proposed 10 recommendations that they believed, if implemented, would greatly improve the electoral process in the country. Some of the recommendations included: extending the filing and determination period of presidential petitions from 30 days to 60, allowing oral testimony in addition to affidavits, increasing the time for fresh elections from 20 days, and enacting a law to regulate the use of technology in elections.
Others were sanction officials who deny equal airtime to candidates on public media, banning campaign donations by all candidates, including the sitting President, to ensure a level playing ground, prohibiting public servants from participating in political campaigns, and enacting the law to include the Attorney General as a respondent in presidential election petitions. But according to Justice Buteera, the other two arms of government have adamantly refused to have most of these recommendations implemented, almost a decade later.
We strongly associate ourselves with the retired jurist’s concerns that court decisions and recommendations shouldn’t be issued in vain. Article 128(3) of the 1995 Constitution demands that all organs of the State must ensure they assist the courts to ensure their effectiveness. Likewise, Article 212(d) demands that the Uganda Police Force cooperates with the civilian authority and other security organs and the general public, a duty which is essential for the administration of justice.
Based on the aforementioned constitutional provisions, all other government institutions, including the Executive and Legislature, should assist the courts in ensuring there is better administration of justice in the country, and more especially around the electoral process. This is because noncompliance with the court orders undermines the powers of the Judiciary and also erodes the general public’s confidence in an institution that is meant to be the last line of defence.
Uganda is currently in the thick of electioneering, and we believe if all the 10 recommendations of the highest court in the land had been implemented, it would have been a big step towards achieving a proper democratic election where a losing candidate would admit to having fairly been beaten.