CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM IN UGANDA: THE NEW APPROACH

The article examines the constitution-making process in Uganda, from the days when Museveni's National Resistance Movement conducted its guerrilla campaign, declaring its intention to re-establish democracy with a new constitution. It considered that Uganda's cycle of violence in the past sprang from the lack of a good constitution and much store was placed on constitutionalism as a panacea. Accordingly, a constitutional commission was set up to consult the people and make proposals for a new constitution. The article examines how far this was a genuine attempt to consult widely, or whether the government ‘guidelines’ were intended to steer the discussion along pre-determined lines, and at a deliberately slow pace. The constitution itself is seen to contain some valuable improvements on previous constitutions but also to safeguard and preserve the existing ideology of the National Resistance Movement as far as possible.