Article Outline
The constitution guarantees the independence of the judiciary. The High Court has the power to try any criminal or civil case for the first time, and also hears appeals from the local, lower magistrates’ courts. Appeals of High Court decisions are made to the Court of Appeals and from there to the Supreme Court. Issues of interpretation of the constitution may be taken directly to a bench of five judges from the Court of Appeals sitting as the Constitutional Court. Judges are appointed by the president acting on the advice of the Judicial Service Commission and with the approval of parliament.
Uganda is divided into 69 districts, including the city of Kampala. The districts are subdivided into counties, subcounties, parishes, and villages. The residents of each village make up its village council, which elects a governing village committee. All the village committees in the same parish form the parish’s council and elect the parish committee, which joins together with all the other parish committees in the subcounty to elect its committee, and so on. Committee elections are held every four years and one-third of the positions in each committee are reserved for women. The districts, which are responsible for much of the local public services, receive funding from the central government and also raise some of their own revenues through local taxes. Smaller units within the districts also have some autonomous powers and the right to retain a portion of the revenues they collect from local taxes.
From 1986 to 2005, only the National Resistance Movement (NRM), Museveni’s umbrella political organization to which all Ugandans nominally belonged, was allowed to contest elections. In 2003 restrictions on other political parties were lifted, and Ugandans voted in a 2005 national referendum to allow multiparty elections. Major opposition parties include the Forum for Democratic Change, the Democratic Party, and the Uganda People’s Congress.
The military, called the Uganda Peoples’ Defense Forces (UPDF), originated from the National Resistance Army, a guerrilla force recruited and trained by Yoweri Museveni to overthrow the government in the mid-1980s. In 2004 the UPDF had about 45,000 troops. Military service is voluntary. The military has had great influence on the political process since it took over the government in 1986. However, as civilian institutions have gained more powers under the new constitution, the army has lost some of its influence over decisions.
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International and Regional Organizations
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Uganda is a member of the United Nations (UN), the Commonwealth of Nations, the African Union (AU), the Organization of the Islamic Conference, and the Nonaligned Movement, a group of nations that did not ally themselves with either the United States or the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) during the Cold War period. It is also a member of the regional East African Community (EAC).
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