The Observer (Kampala)
7 December 2011
editorial
The Public Order Management Bill 2011 currently before Parliament continues to raise eyebrows.
Through this bill, the government seeks tighter but legal mechanisms of controlling public gatherings. However, many stakeholders are adamant that if enacted, the new law would be a violation of human rights and even our own Constitution.
The Uganda Joint Christian Council, the Uganda Law Society, the Law Development Centre, and the Uganda Human Rights Commission are some of the organisations that have come forward to reject the bill in its current form.
All of them argue that the bill undermines the fundamental freedoms of assembly, association and expression enshrined in our Constitution. They also reject the vast powers that the bill gives the Inspector General of Police, saying he might abuse them. These groups, and others, further point out that there’s no need for a new law as existing laws are sufficient to maintain law and order.
“The bill should aim at facilitating rather than prohibiting demonstrations in conformity with the law. The bill should balance the right to assembly with other rights and should only impose restrictions that are acceptable and justifiable in a free and democratic society,” said the Uganda Human Rights Commission chairperson, Medi Kaggwa.
Furthermore, the proposed law is seen as an attempt to torpedo a Constitutional court ruling of 2008 that denied Police powers to authorise gatherings in accordance with the Police Act. In a petition filed by Muwanga Kivumbi against the Attorney General in 2005, the court ruled that Section 32 of the Police Act unjustifiably limited the rights to freedoms of assembly and association enshrined in the Constitution, and declared it null and void.
This bill is clearly an attempt to get around this ruling, an act that a team of lawyers from the Law Development Centre calls unconstitutional. Article 92 of the Constitution, they point out, says Parliament shall not pass laws to alter the decision or judgment of any court.
It is obvious that events in North Africa and our own walk-to-work protests have inspired this government effort. However, as the Uganda Joint Christian Council team said to Parliament’s committee handling the bill, it’s better for the government to seek dialogue and consensus building to prevent political unrest rather than find protection in the law.
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