Wakilii

Kalali v Attorney General & Another (MISCELLANEOUS CAUSE NO. 35 OF 2018)

High Court · [2020] UGHCCD 172 · 2020 Application Granted AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Application for declarations and orders enforcing fundamental rights under the Constitution
Decision
Application granted with declarations and directions to the Electoral Commission

Observed later treatment

Cited — treatment unverified cited in 1 (treatment unverified) Sequitur — Uganda’s citator · Derived from citing cases in the Wakilii corpus — not an assertion that this case is good law.

Citator coverage is limited to judgments in the Wakilii corpus and source-matched treatment records. Absence of a signal is not an assertion that the case remains good law.

No adverse treatment recorded Cited 1 time with no adverse treatment recorded; not yet tested on the merits. Derived from citing cases in the Wakilii corpus — a deterministic signal, not legal advice.

AI-generated summary. This summary was generated by AI from the full text of the judgment. It may contain errors or omissions—always read the source judgment before relying on it.

Holding

The High Court held that Ugandan citizens aged eighteen years and above who are in prison or living in the diaspora possess the constitutional right to vote under article 59 of the Constitution. The Electoral Commission's exclusion of these citizens from voter registration violates their fundamental rights under articles 1, 21 and 59, and contravenes Uganda's obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the African Charter on Human and People's Rights. The absence of enabling legislation does not excuse the failure to implement article 59(3), which mandates the state to take all necessary steps to ensure all qualified citizens register and vote.

Outcome

Application granted with declarations and directions to the Electoral Commission

Facts

The applicant, a lawyer, brought an application on behalf of Ugandan prisoners aged 18 years and above and Ugandans living in the diaspora. Two prisoners from Iganga prison swore affidavits that they had never been registered as voters or issued national identity cards, and no inmates participated in the 2016 presidential and parliamentary elections. Since 1995, the Electoral Commission has conducted five general elections without registering or facilitating voting for prisoners or diaspora Ugandans. The Electoral Commission opposed the application, arguing that the current legal framework does not encompass the intricacies of voting while incarcerated or in the diaspora, and that its duty must be exercised in accordance with existing law. The applicant argued that all adult Ugandans have a constitutional right to vote without limitation or exception.

Issues

  1. Whether Ugandans in prison and in the diaspora have a right to vote.
  2. Whether the right to vote of prisoners and Ugandans in the diaspora has been infringed.
  3. Whether the acts of the Respondents are illegal.
  4. What remedies are available to the parties.

Orders

  • Declared that Ugandans of eighteen years and above who are in prison or the diaspora have the right to vote under article 59 of the Constitution.
  • Declared that the Electoral Commission's conduct of depriving them of this right is illegal as it infringes their rights in violation of articles 1, 59 and 21 of the Constitution.
  • Directed the Electoral Commission to comply with its obligation under article 59(3) to take all necessary steps to ensure that as citizens, prisoners and Ugandans in the diaspora register and exercise their right to vote.
  • No order as to costs.

Rules and key headnotes

Constitutional Law — Right to Vote — Universal Adult Suffrage — Article 59 — Prisoners and Diaspora Citizens
Every Ugandan citizen of eighteen years or above has a right to vote under article 59(1) of the Constitution, and being a prisoner or living in the diaspora does not take away this constitutional right because these statuses do not deprive one of citizenship or the rights that flow from citizenship.
Constitutional Law — State Obligation — Article 59(3) — Implementation
Article 59(3) imposes a mandatory obligation on the state to take all necessary steps to ensure that all qualified citizens register and exercise their right to vote, and the absence of enabling legislation does not excuse government entities from fulfilling this constitutional duty.
Constitutional Law — Equality and Non-Discrimination — Article 21 — Social Status
Disenfranchising prisoners or diaspora citizens constitutes discrimination on the ground of social status contrary to article 21 of the Constitution, because the social status of being a prisoner or living in the diaspora must not be used arbitrarily to deprive citizens of their constitutional right to vote.
Constitutional Law — Article 1 — Popular Sovereignty — Exercise of Will and Consent
Article 1(4) provides that the people shall express their will and consent on who shall govern them through regular, free and fair elections, and this foundational principle of democratic governance cannot be complied with when categories of citizens are prevented from exercising their right to vote.
Human Rights — Right to Vote — International Law — ICCPR and ACHPR — Domestic Application
The disenfranchisement of prisoners and diaspora citizens violates article 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and article 13 of the African Charter on Human and People's Rights, both of which Uganda has ratified and which guarantee the right to vote for all citizens without unreasonable restrictions.
Constitutional Law — Interpretation — Enfranchisement Principle
Every reasonable effort should be made to enfranchise citizens, and any interpretation of the right to vote that disenfranchises must be struck down while that which enfranchises must be upheld as being in line with the Constitution.
Electoral Law — Electoral Commission Act — Section 18 — Voter Registration
The Electoral Commission's exclusion of prisoners and diaspora citizens from voter registration violates section 18 of the Electoral Commission Act, which requires the inclusion of all persons entitled to vote in the voter's register.

Legislation cited (24)

Cases cited (4)

  • August v Electoral Commission (1999) ZACC 3
  • Haig v Canada 105 DLR (4th) 577
  • Sauvé v Canada (Attorney General) 7 OR (3rd) 481
  • Minister of Home Affairs v National Institute for Crime Prevention and the Re-integration of Offenders (NICRO) & others

Cases citing this judgment (1)

How later Ugandan judgments in the Wakilii corpus have cited this case. Treatment labels come from Sequitur — Uganda’s citator — each backed by a verbatim span from the citing judgment, and are not an assertion that this case is, or is not, good law.

Full judgment

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The original judgment as reported. Read the original PDF before relying on any passage.

Kalali v Attorney General & Another (MISCELLANEOUS CAUSE NO. 35 OF 2018) [2020] UGHCCD 172 (17 June 2020)
Source: this page presents Wakilii’s issue analysis and metadata for a publicly reported Ugandan judgment. Any AI-generated summary is marked as such. Judgment text is sourced from the Uganda Legal Information Institute (ulii.org). Wakilii is not affiliated with ULII.