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By Claudia Alpha Arua city A section of concerned citizens in West Nile Region have blamed the series of amendments in Uganda’s Constitution for the gradual loss of focus and purpose of the country’s sacred document 30 years after its establishment in 1995. Th
By Claudia Alpha
Arua city
A section of concerned citizens in West Nile Region have blamed the series of amendments in Uganda’s Constitution for the gradual loss of focus and purpose of the country’s sacred document 30 years after its establishment in 1995.
The constitution one of the greatest tools of power of independence has faced not less than 4 times of amendments in Uganda including the famous age and term limits, raising concerns among the statesmen on the relevance of the country’s constitution.
According to Ambassador Harold Acema, a Ugandan diplomat the constitution has been undermined, “The consensus which was arrived at in 1995 has been undermined, has been weakened and no longer exists we need to adopt another constitution which of course may not solve the problem as long as the people are not willing to respect rule of law and separation of powers and the citizens are not willing to exercise their mandates because power belong to the people and people are not willing to exercise their mandates then power becomes futile so you see the challenge is on the citizens, legislatures, executive and the Judiciary,” said Acema.
Since Uganda’s independence in 1962, the country first exercised autonomy with the 1964 constitution that subsequently led to the 1966 Pigeon hole constitution and later the current 1995 constitution which is still undergoing amendments.
Counsel Salim Hadad, an advocate of the high court of Uganda, dreaded that the constitution of Uganda may cease to exist taking into account the number of amendments that have been done.
“I fear for the constitution that probably in the next 20years it might not be there also the level at which the amendments are being done these are not ordinary amendments these are key amendments and I fear that if they continue we may have nothing left of a constitution in the next twenty or so years,” Hadad supposed.
Uganda’s constitution is the legal framework that governs how the country is run and guarantees the rights of the people, making it the supreme law of the land.