Army officers get to keep seats in Parliament

Over the past few months Uganda’s courts have delivered a series of decisions that have extended democratic practices, finding restrictive legislation unconstitutional and ordering compensation for a detainee killed by police. No wonder some observers had hoped that the Constitutional Court would rule in favour of an application to find army representation in Parliament unconstitutional. As Carmel Rickard writes in her A Matter of Justice column on the Legalbrief site, 10 parliamentary seats are reserved for ‘serving officers’ chosen by the Army Council headed by President Yoweri Museveni. A human rights organisation challenged the continuation of this practice, but last week the Constitutional Court turned down the application.

A Matter of Justice

Ruling