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ItemRecalling our history: a reflection of historical memory in Uganda’s constitutional jurisprudence since 1995(Makerere University, 2026)The promulgation of Uganda’s Constitution on 8 October 1995 was not merely a juridical milestone, but a deliberate and conscious act of collective remembrance. Emerging from decades of military coups, institutional collapse, and systematic human rights violations, the Constitution was framed as both a rebuke of the past and a covenant with the future. Its Preamble expressly recalls the political and constitutional instability that had afflicted the nation and invokes the sacrifices of those who resisted tyranny and oppression, thereby inscribing historical memory into the very foundation of the constitutional order. This conscious act of remembrance was not incidental; the framers, guided by the Uganda Constitutional Commission, designed the Constitution to ensure that the failures of earlier constitutional experiments, under the 1962, 1966, and 1967 instruments, would not be repeated. Since 1995, Uganda’s courts, most notably the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court, have been engaged in the complex and often contested task of giving legal effect to that constitutional memory. This encompasses engagement with the collective experience of past injustices, conflict and constitutional rupture when interpreting constitutional provisions, adjudicating disputes, and shaping the boundaries of state power. The question of whether courts recall, deploy, and at times contest that historical memory, and whether such invocations serve as genuine jurisprudential tools or mere rhetorical legitimation, lies at the heart of this research.
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ItemAssessing the constitutionality of the succession act in protection of property rights of separated spouses in Uganda(Makerere University, 2026)This study is an exploration of the adequacy of the Succession Act Cap 268 in observance of constitutional provisions in protection of property rights of separated spouses in Uganda. It is a comparison of selected jurisdictions that have adopted the law of interstate succession whose results have been applied to comprehend the adequacy of succession law in Uganda based on which lessons have been drawn to address the underlying inconsistencies and to propose suggestions for improvement of protection of property rights of separated spouses in Uganda. Four main research questions were explored, namely; i) what is the international and national legal regime for the protection of property rights of separated spouses in the context of Uganda? ii) To what extent is the Succession Act consistent with the constitutional provisions on protection of property rights of separated spouses in Uganda? iii) What regional and global best practices exist for the protection of property rights of separated spouses during succession? iv) What legal and policy proposals can be obtained from other jurisdictions to enhance Uganda’s succession law towards protection of property rights of separated spouses? The study submits that the Succession Act Cap 268 contravenes Article 26 (1) of the Constitution of Uganda which states that ‘every person has a right to own property either individually or in association with others.’ This has implied that Section 26(1) fails on ground of right to equality, non-discrimination (Article 21), and the dignity of women (Article 33). This is because the Section appears to disqualify separated spouses from taking any interest in the estate if they were separated from the deceased ‘as a member of the same household’ at the time of death. Secondly, the existing principal law focuses on the physical, functional separation of households rather than just legal divorce. Thirdly, if a spouse is separated, they must prove that they were not responsible for the separation, or that the separation was due to the deceased’s actions, to inherit. Fourthly, separated spouses seeking to claim interest in an intestate's estate must apply to court for a declaration allowing them to inherit within six months of the death of the intestate. Fifth, even if a court allows a separated spouse to inherit, they may only be entitled to a portion of the property acquired before the separation, not the entire estate. Sixth, the protection is not automatic since the court has the discretion to determine what constitutes ‘good cause’ for a separated spouse to inherit, creating uncertainty. Lastly, if a deceased spouse left a valid will, they have broad discretion over their property. Overturning the above hiccups, demands borrowing from a series of achievements from selected jurisdictions that have embraced succession law reforms in the above areas. This study concludes that there is still a huge chance for succession legal standards to improve in Uganda in accordance with legal and policy reforms as suggested by the researcher.
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ItemThe case for legal and policy reforms for children born of wartime sexual violence in Northern Uganda(Makerere University, 2026)This study interrogates the case for legal and policy interventions to protect children born of wartime sexual violence (CBWSV) in Northern Uganda – a population whose distinct legal vulnerabilities remain inadequately addressed by Uganda's existing normative frameworks. Arising from systematic sexual violence committed by the Lord's Resistance Army during a conflict spanning approximately 1986 to 2006, these children simultaneously enjoy constitutional and treaty protection in principle and face systematic exclusion from birth registration, inheritance, land, and transitional justice in practice. Employing a mixed-methods socio-legal methodology, the study combines doctrinal analysis of Uganda's constitutional and statutory framework with empirical findings drawn from key informant interviews and focus group discussions conducted with affected adults, community leaders, and institutional actors in Northern Uganda. Empirical data are interpreted through legal rather than social-scientific frameworks, situating interview evidence within the Children Act Cap 62, the Registration of Persons Act Cap 332, the Succession Act Cap 268, the Land Act Cap 236, and relevant international instruments including the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. The analysis is anchored in an integrated theoretical framework of Justice Theory, Children's Rights Theory, and Transitional Justice Theory. The study advances five arguments. First, Uganda's legal framework contains structural gaps operating to the particular detriment of CBWSV, including proof-of-paternity requirements that render birth registration inaccessible. Second, the National Transitional Justice Policy 2019 does not provide enforceable reparative mechanisms specifically addressing CBWSV's legal deficits. Third, Uganda v Thomas Kwoyelo (2023) represents a landmark accountability precedent that nonetheless excludes CBWSV from reparations, exposing the gap between criminal accountability and victim redress for indirect victims. Fourth, comparative experience from Rwanda, Colombia, Sierra Leone, and Bosnia-Herzegovina demonstrates that targeted legislative reform is feasible and effective, and that inaction produces the durable legal invisibility Uganda currently maintains. Fifth, CBWSV's exclusion constitutes not merely a policy failure but a present violation of binding constitutional and international obligations. The study provides ten targeted recommendations for statutory reform, institutional capacitybuilding, and administrative action, grounded in the proposition that the protection of CBWSV is a present constitutional obligation whose discharge requires specific legislative amendments and the activation of enforcement mechanisms Uganda has thus far failed to deploy.
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ItemAn examination of the adequacy of Uganda’s production sharing legal framework in protecting host communities: a case study of the Bunyoro Region(Makerere University, 2026)This study examines the adequacy of Uganda's production sharing legal framework in protecting the interests of host communities in the Bunyoro Region of the Albertine Graben. Uganda has adopted the Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) model as the principal contractual instrument governing petroleum development, yet communities in Bunyoro – whose land, livelihoods, environment, and cultural heritage are most directly affected – report persistent grievances over inadequate compensation, restricted participation, environmental harm, and exclusion from petroleum revenues. The study employs a mixed-methods research design integrating doctrinal legal analysis with qualitative empirical fieldwork conducted in Buliisa, Hoima, and Kikuube districts in May 2026. The doctrinal analysis applies the Public Trust Doctrine and Rights-Based Theory as the twin theoretical frameworks through a structured Adequacy Assessment Matrix of seven criteria: constitutionality; legality and enforceability; participation and consent; compensation and resettlement; environmental safeguards; benefit-sharing and local content; and institutional accountability and oversight. The matrix is applied to the Constitution of Uganda, the Petroleum (Exploration, Development and Production) Act, the Land Act, the National Environment Act, relevant subsidiary legislation, and the Model Production Sharing Agreement 2012. The empirical component comprised Key Informant Interviews with legal experts, government officials, and civil society practitioners, and Focus Group Discussions with affected community members. The study finds that the framework is formally consistent with the Constitution in its broad architecture but exhibits systemic inadequacies in its community-facing provisions. Environmental safeguards are the most developed dimension. Participation and consent, compensation and livelihood restoration, benefit-sharing, and institutional accountability are materially inadequate. Compensation law excludes petroleum-enhanced land values; no mandatory livelihood restoration obligation exists; the PSA confidentiality regime prevents community access to contractual terms; and communities are structurally excluded from PSA dispute resolution. Fieldwork accounts, read with documentary evidence, are consistent with these legal gaps producing concrete harm, including reported compensation delays of three to five years, loss of livelihoods without restoration support, and unequal access to justice. The study proposes ten targeted reforms addressed to Government, Parliament, the judiciary, the IOCs, civil society, and institutions of learning.
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ItemThe history of Busoga: Luganda version(suigeneris Publishers, 2026)History of Busoga: Luganda Version, 1921, by Owekitibwa Omulangila Y.K. Lubogo, is an exceptional indigenous record of the origins, development, institutions, peoples, traditions and political history of Busoga. Written in Luganda in 1921, the manuscript represents an important early effort by a Musoga intellectual, royal prince, political leader and public servant to commit the historical memory of his people to writing at a critical period in the formation of modern Uganda. The work is therefore significant not only for the historical information it preserves, but also as an early example of African authorship and indigenous historical documentation in the colonial period. The use of Luganda in recording the history of Busoga requires particular historical understanding. Luganda was not, and is not, the principal indigenous language of Busoga. The author's choice of Luganda must instead be understood within the linguistic and political circumstances of the early twentieth century. During this period, Buganda exercised considerable political, administrative and cultural influence within the emerging Uganda Protectorate, while Luganda had become an important medium of wider communication, particularly in administration, education, religious work and written African communication. English, although increasingly important under British colonial rule, remained a relatively restricted written and administrative language in the early decades of the twentieth century. For an African intellectual seeking to record an extensive historical account for circulation beyond exclusively oral settings, Luganda consequently provided a practical and established written medium. The fact that a Musoga from the Bulamogi royal tradition chose Luganda to preserve the history of Busoga is therefore itself an important historical fact and should not be interpreted as evidence that Luganda was the indigenous language of Busoga. The manuscript encompasses the historical traditions of Busoga from its origins and early development through the formation and histories of its constituent chiefdoms and royal institutions, the genealogies and succession of rulers, systems of authority and governance, customary institutions, land and territorial organisation, social relations, culture, religion, economic life and political development. It preserves historical knowledge that had traditionally been transmitted through oral memory and through custodians of family, clan, royal and political traditions, while recording the transformations that accompanied the establishment and consolidation of British colonial administration. It consequently provides an important primary source for studying not only the history of Busoga but also the transition from predominantly oral historical transmission to written indigenous historiography. The author, Owekitibwa Omulangila Y.K. Lubogo, occupied an extraordinary position within the history he documented. He was an original prince of the Bulamogi royal family, served as Chief of Bulamogi and Zibondo of Bulamogi, and was Treasurer of the Busoga Lukiko. He also served as a Court Translator, placing him at a significant intersection between indigenous royal and customary institutions and the colonial administrative system. His position within the Bulamogi royal house, together with his experience in public administration and the institutions of the Busoga Lukiko, gave him an unusually intimate vantage point from which to record the political traditions, genealogies, institutions and social organisation of Busoga. Y.K. Lubogo's historical significance extended beyond his traditional and administrative offices. He was a pioneering African intellectual, political organiser, traveller and entrepreneur. Among the distinctions and achievements associated with his remarkable life, he was decorated as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE); was the first Musoga to visit Europe and several European countries; was the first person to own a petrol station in Uganda; pioneered the establishment of a political pressure group in Busoga and more broadly Uganda; and became the first African Black Mayor in East Africa. His career thus brought together indigenous royal authority, customary leadership, colonial public service, political organisation, international experience, enterprise and intellectual production in a manner exceptional for an African of his generation. This provenance is particularly significant because the present edition is concerned with the original Luganda text, rather than merely with its subsequent English translation. The Luganda manuscript constitutes the primary linguistic form in which Y.K. Lubogo originally recorded his historical knowledge. Its preservation allows contemporary readers and scholars to engage directly with the language, terminology, names, genealogical traditions, concepts and historical categories employed by the author. The English edition serves the important purpose of extending accessibility, but it does not displace the independent historical and linguistic value of the original Luganda manuscript. The work should consequently be understood as both a history of Busoga and an artefact of Busoga's own historical consciousness. It records the past while simultaneously revealing the perspective, intellectual agency and political circumstances of the person who undertook to preserve that past. Its royal genealogies, traditions, accounts of political authority and descriptions of social and cultural institutions provide valuable material for the study of Busoga, Bulamogi and the wider history of Uganda and East Africa. Its survival in the original Luganda is particularly important because translation, however faithful, cannot completely reproduce the linguistic, conceptual and cultural dimensions of the source in which the history was first recorded. More than a century after its composition, History of Busoga: Luganda Version, 1921 stands as an important document of Busoga, Uganda and African intellectual heritage. It is simultaneously a history of a people, a record of indigenous political and cultural memory, an example of early African written historiography, a document of the colonial-era transformation of Busoga, and a testament to the extraordinary life and intellectual legacy of Owekitibwa Omulangila Y.K. Lubogo. Its preservation safeguards not merely information about the past, but an indigenous attempt to remember, interpret and transmit that past to future generations.