Real-life rule of law issues test Ugandan law students

Determined – and brave – staff at Uganda’s Makerere University law school have done it again: they have incorporated a current ‘hot’ Ugandan human rights issue into an examination written last week. Carmel Rickard, in her A Matter of Justice column on the Legalbrief site, says while it is common practice in many countries for exam questions to probe students’ understanding of the law by way of hypothetical cases that sometimes come close to real-life issues, Uganda presents more of a challenge. Last year, there was considerable fuss in some quarters over a similar constitutional law paper that also referenced a Ugandan flash-point, namely the behaviour of the Speaker of Parliament, Anita Among. These allegations of serious corruption led to punitive steps against Among by the UK and the USA that now bar her travel to those countries. The Among-related exam question led to an inquiry called by the university’s vice-chancellor. But the law teachers have since pressed on, setting a similarly-styled exam this time round. Written last week, the exam paper consists of seven questions, from which students had to answer four, all of them testing the students’ knowledge of the Constitution and the possible limits of constitutional litigation on current live human rights and rule of law issues in Uganda.

A Matter of Justice

Exam questions

Jambuka Arnest article