Court orders government to reverse NGO suspension

A Ugandan court has ordered the government to reconsider its decision to suspend the country's most prominent rights organisation. Chapter Four was forced to halt its operations during a sweeping opposition crackdown before and after last year's elections. Radio France Internationale reports that it is one of 54 NGOs ordered to suspend activities following presidential elections last year during which opposition leaders were arrested, activists disappeared and several dozen people were gunned down. High Court Judge Musa Ssekaana called the decision to indefinitely suspend the organisation ‘irregular’. The court ordered the National Bureau for NGOs to hold a hearing on the issue within one month. The ruling does not automatically allow Chapter Four to resume operations, but does require the NGO Bureau – part of the Internal Affairs Ministry – to ‘approach the decision making process with an open mind.’ ‘Reason and justice and not arbitrariness must inform every exercise of discretion and power,’ Ssekaana ruled. Chapter Four welcomed the ruling.