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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | 'Taming' the President: Some Critical Reflections on the Executive and the Separation of Powers in Uganda |
Author: | Oloka-Onyango, J. |
Year: | 1995 |
Periodical: | East African Journal of Peace and Human Rights |
Volume: | 2 |
Issue: | 2 |
Pages: | 189-208 |
Language: | English |
Notes: | biblio. refs. |
Geographic terms: | Uganda East Africa |
Subjects: | authoritarianism constitutional reform executive power Politics and Government Law, Human Rights and Violence law democracy Civil rights |
Abstract: | Since the inception of the modern State of Uganda - both in its colonial and independent form - no phenomenon has had as lasting and negative an impact on political developments in the country as have the antics, failings and chicanery of the executive arm of government. Colonialism produced the amalgam of the imperial emperor and village chief, and almost all postindependence Ugandan presidents have exuded a tendency to act as one or the other, and often to combine both. Executive power in Uganda has thus been the basis upon which a few individuals have asserted their hegemonic control over the majority. The 1992 draft constitution fails to make a radical departure from this historical legacy, and as a consequence allows unbridled executive power to remain unchecked. The present article opens with a list of proposals to amend the draft constitution, 'tame' the executive and enhance the power and independence of the judiciary and legislature, and points to some of the most outstanding loopholes that undermine the otherwise positive thrust of the document. Notes, ref. |