This archive report was first published on 21 June 2020.
On June 17, 2020, the High Court in Kampala delivered a landmark ruling that granted voting rights to Ugandans in jail and those living abroad.
The ruling, delivered by Lady Justice Lydia Mugambe, is a result of a petition filed in 2018 by lawyer Stephen Kalali seeking declarations and orders that prisoners and Ugandans in the diaspora have a fundamental and absolute right to be registered as voters.
According to the court, being a prisoner or living abroad does not take away one's citizenship, and therefore, these statuses do not take away the rights, like the right to vote, that result from one's citizenship under the constitution.
Justice Mugambe cited several countries, including South Africa, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, and Zambia, where prisoners are allowed to vote, and noted that Uganda is signatory to several international human rights instruments.
The ruling is bound to impact the Electoral Commission's preparations for elections due to be held between January 8, 2021, and February 10, 2021.
Uganda has 64,500 prisoners, according to prisons spokesperson Frank Baine Mayanja, who expressed concerns that the ruling cannot stand alone without enabling laws.
