Last Friday, the cabinet bowed to growing pressure against the Constitution Amendment Bill and instructed the Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs to withdraw it from Parliament. -This is no doubt a victory for the opposition, not the least the human rights sector of it, says Martin Masiga of HURINET, but one we should perhaps have waited to inflict upon Parliament. (6-APR-05)

Sections of this article, written by Charles Mwanguhya Mpagi, first appeared in the independent Ugandan daily the Monitor on Saturday 2 April. It has been edited and amended for republication here.

-Had we not put the Government under pressure at this stage, but allowed it to proceed and deal with the more than 200 proposed Constitutional Amendments in one go, as has been President Yoweri Museveni’s plan until now, we would have stood a better chance of winning a court case against the Government on procedural grounds than we do now, says Masiga himself a lawyer, and for the last two years volunteering as the Uganda Human Rights House project’s co-ordinator.

-We should have been patient
The Government’s plan now is to replace the first single omnibus bill with two separate bills; one covering amendments to be approved by MPs and another that would require approval of MPs and district councils. -As for our chances of winning a court case against the government now, with these two separate bills, it remains to be seen which amendments will be grouped together, explains Masiga. -Not all amendments require the same procedural handlings. Hence, we may still decide to go ahead with court proceedings. My own opinion, though, is that this victory came to soon. It was probably unwise to mount all that pressure on the cabinet at this stage. Instead, we should have been patient, and then won the same victory far more comprehensively.

-In the interest of cohesion and consensus
Meanwhile, the Attorney General Dr Khiddu Makubuya did not admit the surprising turn came as a consequence of the pressure that has been growing in recent weeks, also internationally, for the Ugandan government to handle all the proposed Constitutional Amendments that little bit less off-the-cuff-like. Instead, Dr Makubuya told a hastily called conference that “after making wide consultations with the leaders in government, political organisations / parties and in the interest of cohesion and consensus the government has decided to withdraw the omnibus Bill from Parliament”.