Aboneka Writes

I salute the Ministry of Health for the efforts so far in as far as managing the Corona Pandemic and providing timely information to the general public. The President on March 18th, 2020 delivered a speech on the Country's position on the Corona Pandemic and stated several what he termed as strategies. Below are issues that are still hanging in the balance: 1. Is the Speech legally enforceable? The President made a speech on Wednesday 17:00hrs and this was one of the shortest speeches in history I have observed. Th Speech had consequential orders and I am wondering how they will legally be enforceable. I don’t think Presidential orders from a speech are legally biding. There needs a legal process by a Minister tabling or exercising her powers under the Public Health Act by first making a statutory order of the Corona to be brought under the Public Health Act and then make a special Statutory Instrument detailing the rules and their sanctions. As it stands, what will be t...

The President has so far had four addresses of which he progressively issues new directives to the public. I have been part of those challenging the legality of the directives in the absence of the Statutory Instrument by the Minister of Health. We kept pushing until the Statutory Instrument were issued on 24th March 2020. Will these act retrospectively? Those who ere arrested for defying the directives before the issuance of the Statutory Instrument by the Minister on Mach 24th 2020, what was the basis for their arrests? Isn't this an an infringement of rights and a rape on rule of law especially Article 28 of our Constitution that bars any arrest of individuals in absence of any law demanding so? Secondly, I have seen security agencies beat up people in Mityana, Busia and other parts of the country in the name of enforcing the directives. This is illegal and a violation of human rights as there is no law subjecting "offenders" to corporal punishment and the security ...

Africa is the richest continent in the world. It is endowed with fresh waters, minerals, oil and gas, rich flora and fauna and beautiful people. We may not know what the Africa we want will be like in 2063 but we can work on things that we don’t want to see. The pre-colonial era (before 1963) Africa was busy dealing with struggles for independence, foreign supremacy and dominances, marginal ignorance and illiteracy, sicknesses and was basically operating in a survival mode. The post independent era brought a new Africa-Africans started to have freedoms, most countries gained independence, and ruthless policies like apartheid were defeated. We no longer had any new excuse, it was a new dawn for Africa-it was a bright morning for Africa to rise and make the best out of its endowments. The African Union Agenda 2063 is an aspiration of Africa premised on the above history; we needed to re-think and plan the Africa we want in the next 50 years. The Agenda will help us focus to deliver an ...

By Michael Aboneka Jr For the past few weeks, I have been engaged in debates over some practices that we have ignored as society and yetare harmful especially to children. The conversations raised a lot of dust as this subject touches many hearts as many think it is an attack on their tribes and customs. But if we must progress as a civilized society, we must transcend beyond tribal, cultural and religious sentiments to discussing real issues. Female genital mutilation (FGM) was once a “beautiful” cultural practice until society discovered that it was dangerous to the life of a woman and as such, it is now an offence under the Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation Act, 2010. In the same vain, rolling of girls over a cliff because they were pregnant was also outlawed because it was repugnant to the Constitution as it undermined one’s right to life. It is within the same ambit that we should discuss the forceful and harmful circumcision for boys and elongation of the labia minora ...

By Michael Aboneka jr (SOURCE: INTERNET) The right to dissent is by and large an extension of the freedom of conscience, expression, movement, religion, assembly and association enshrined under Article 29 of the Constitution of Uganda, 1995. Uganda too signed the African Charter on democracy, elections and good governance (ACDEG) in December 2008, which espouses the right to dissent and holding opinion important for any democracy. The charter further under Chapter 4 enjoins states to protect such freedoms and under article 27(8), States are enjoined to protect and promote the freedom of expression, opinion and the press and media. Now that Uganda has committed to promote and protect these freedoms, why is the right to dissent in this country becoming increasingly an offence? Recently, a group of students in Makerere university were opposed to the arbitral increment of tuition to which they took to the “streets” of the University for a peaceful demonstration exercising the right...

By Michael Aboneka Jr A few weeks ago, the public was shocked with news that over 1000 couples' marriages were null and void as the place of worship that purportedly celebrated the marriage was not licensed and gazetted to do the same. There has been a lot of storm on this matter and notwithstanding this, the Church has not made any comment as to the future of the affected Couples. I have received numerous calls and messages concerning this issue and I think it is unfortunate that the Church, which is supposed to exemplify truth and honesty chose to wed couples well knowing that they had not been licensed and gazetted at the time they conducted the marriages. It will be justifiable for all the couples to sue the Church for damages and other reliefs. In another turn of the events, it has been reported that the MPs raised this issue on the floor of Parliament and the Government's response was that the position of the law takes precedence and therefore all the couples must re-...

By Michael Aboneka jr For some time now, there have been certain issues regarding the administration of the judiciary especially with Judicial officers’ logistical details. This was barely a month after the judiciary received a new Permanent Secretary /secretary to the Judiciary. I am not sure whether this was a coincidence or something else. The judicial officers have been complaining of the erroneous deductions of their allowances, failure to avail operation costs, disturbance allowances, kilometrage allowances and settlement allowances. How do we expect judicial officers to carry out their constitutional mandate without facilitation? Why should a magistrate spend a full quarter without operational funds to buy stationery, fix bulbs among others? Why should judicial officers receive the same kilometrage allowances regardless of their different distances of their working stations? All these questions haven’t been answered. Be that as it may, I have carefully reflected on this matt...