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Expert Matovu

1) Uganda v. Commissioner of Prisons considered the legal validity of Uganda's 1966 Constitution, which came into place following a coup by Apollo Milton Obote who suspended the 1962 Constitution. 2) Michael Matovu, the Saza Chief of Buddu, was arrested and detained under emergency powers laws passed after a state of emergency was declared in Buganda Kingdom. 3) The key issue the court considered was the constitutional validity of the 1966 Constitution, which traced its origins back to Obote's extra-constitutional seizure of power through a coup d'etat.

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119 views

Expert Matovu

1) Uganda v. Commissioner of Prisons considered the legal validity of Uganda's 1966 Constitution, which came into place following a coup by Apollo Milton Obote who suspended the 1962 Constitution. 2) Michael Matovu, the Saza Chief of Buddu, was arrested and detained under emergency powers laws passed after a state of emergency was declared in Buganda Kingdom. 3) The key issue the court considered was the constitutional validity of the 1966 Constitution, which traced its origins back to Obote's extra-constitutional seizure of power through a coup d'etat.

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kasumbajohndavis2
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Uganda v.

Commissioner of Prisons, Ex Parte Michael Matovu,[1] [1966] 1 EA 514, is a decision of the


High Court of Uganda in which Hans Kelsen's "General Theory on Law and State"[2] and the Political
Question Doctrine were considered in determining the legal validity of Uganda's 1966 Constitution. The
1966 Constitution had come into place following what was by and large, a coup d'état executed by
Apollo Milton Obote when he seized all powers of government and suspended Uganda's 1962
Independence Constitution, eventually leading to its abolition.On February 22, 1966, Uganda's Prime
Minister, Apollo Milton Obote, issued a statement to the nation in which he announced that he had
assumed all powers of government in the interest of “national stability, public security and tranquility”.
Two days later, he suspended the 1962 Constitution of Uganda. However, the parts of the Constitution
relating to, inter alia; the courts, the civil service, the armed forces and the National Assembly were
preserved for continuity of the basic functioning of the state.

On April 15, 1966, Uganda's National Assembly abolished the 1962 Constitution by resolution and
replaced it with the 1966 Constitution to be in force pending the establishment of a Constituent
Assembly to draft and pass a new Constitution (this later came to be the 1967 Constitution). Under the
new Constitution, all executive authority was vested in the President, in this case Apollo Milton Obote, to
be exercised with the advice and consent of cabinet. Former President, Sir Edward Mutesa was
consequently evicted from the State House and eventually forced to flee into exile. The new Constitution
also abolished the federal states that had been created by its predecessor.

The Applicant in this case, Michael Matovu, also the Saza Chief of Buddu in Buganda Kingdom, was
arrested on May 22, 1966, and detained at Masindi Prison under the provisions of the Deportation
Ordinance. He was subsequently transferred to Luzira Prison in Buganda Kingdom. On May 23, 1966, a
state of emergency was declared in Buganda Kingdom by proclamation and this was later confirmed by
the National Assembly which also passed new legislation governing such states of emergency in form of
the Emergency Powers Act and the Emergency Powers (Detention) Regulations. Michael Matovu was
released from prison on July 16, 1966 and ordered to leave. However, he was re-arrested upon stepping
outside the Prison and consequently re-detained, this time under the emergency powers laws.

The Minister of Internal Affairs ordered his detention on August 10, 1966, and the said detention order
was served on him in prison the next day. A fortnight later, he appeared before a tribunal for review of
his case. On September 6, 1966, Michael Matovu filed, through his advocate, what purported to be an
application for the prerogative writ of habeas corpus under Section 349 of the Criminal Procedure Code
of Uganda. However, his application involved the need to answer various questions requiring
constitutional interpretation and so the presiding judge, Jeffreys Jones, J, referred the matter to a 3-
member bench of the Court (Udo Udoma, CJ; Sheridan and Jeffreys Jones, JJ) for hearing and
determination of the Constitutional questions (not the application for the writ of habeas corpus per se).
The issues for determination revolved about the competence of the Application, the Constitutional
validity of the emergency powers laws and therefore by extension, the constitutionality or legal validity
of Michael Matovu's detention. The most important issue however, and the core of this precedent,
turned out to be the question of the 1966 Constitution's validity. No doubt, the roots of this 1966
Constitution lay in an extra-constitutional act to wit, a coup d'état or revolution perpetrated by Apollo
Milton Obote when he seized all powers of government

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