Public order bill headed to EA court The recently passed Public Order Management law is to be challenged before the East African Court of Justice or the Constitutional Court, Mr Fred Mukasa Mbidde, the East African Legislative Assembly MP has said. Mr Mbidde said the Ugandan legal fraternity, and Pan African lawyers have been instructed by regional lawyers to challenge the law that seeks to restrict public gatherings. He said that as the “rule of law defenders”, they cannot just sit and look on because the newly-passed law will curtail the citizen’s rights to freedom of speech and debate on politics. “The legal fraternity and the Pan African lawyers led by Donald Deya, have received instructions to challenge this newly-passed law on gatherings because it’s unconstitutional,” said Mr Mbidde over the weekend while addressing the press at his chambers in Kampala. Breach of constitution According to him, this new law breaches Article 8 (a) and objective 28 of the constitution. He says it has also breached regional and international laws like Article 6 (d) and 7 (2) of the East African Treaty, Rights Act and Article 2,14,15 and 16 of the Vienna Convention on the law of treaties. This law is in breach of the constitution, the East African and other African and international laws which Uganda has endorsed and should be challenged in court,” he added. On Tuesday, Parliament passed the controversial Bill into law amidst protests from the opposition Members of Parliament. The passing of the Bill sparked off debate from civil society groups and the opposition MPs, saying its intended to curtail their freedom of expression and demonstrations as enshrined in the constitution. The law requires a written notice of planned meetings to be submitted to police a week in advance in addition to granting police the power to block a gathering.
Posted on: Tue, 13 Aug 2013 02:47:41 +0000