The President’s Role(s) in the Law-Making Process in Uganda

Articles 79(1) and (2) of the Constitution of Uganda provide that subject to the provisions of the Constitution, only Parliament or a person or body authorized by Parliament, has the power to make laws. Article 91 provides ways in which the President participates in the law-making process. I examine the Hansard of the 10th Parliament of Uganda (May 2016—May 2021) to demonstrate how the President invoked Article 91 to, inter alia, return Bills to Parliament or to decline to assent to Bills. The 10th Parliament passed 118 Bills, seven Bills were withdrawn and the President returned 11 Bills. The Hansard show that: (i) in most of the cases, Parliament amended the Bills to address the President’s concerns; (ii) there are instances in which Parliament appears to disregard the Constitution especially in cases where the President has exceeded the constitutional time limit within which he must assent to Bills; (iii) Parliament applied different methodologies to gather the information it needed to revise the Bills and (iv) in a few cases, Parliament disagreed with the President and declined to change the returned clauses of the Bills. The article shows, inter alia, that the President wielded enormous powers in the law-making process contrary to what was envisaged by the drafters of the Constitution. It is argued, inter alia, that in reconsidering the Bills returned by the President, Parliament should not ignore the issue of public participation otherwise the Acts may be declared unconstitutional. It is also argued, basing on the drafting history of the Constitution, that the 30-day period within which the President is required to assent to a Bill excludes Sundays and public holidays. However, it includes Saturdays.