The Constitutionality of the Death Penalty in Uganda: A Critical Inquiry

The death penalty is a controversial form of punishment throughout the world. While it has been condemned and abolished in many States as a violation to the right of life, a considerable number of countries, including Uganda, still retain it as a form of punishment. Under Uganda’s 1995 Constitution, a person’s life may be taken ‘in the execution of a sentence passed in a fair trial by a court of competent jurisdiction in respect of a criminal offence under the laws of Uganda’. Several offences, including murder, kidnap with intent to murder, armed robbery, rape and defilement are punishable with death under Uganda’s penal laws. The retention and active use of the death penalty in Uganda raises a number of issues, the more fundamental of which are addressed in the present article. These include the violation of the right to life and the right to freedom from torture; the irreversibility of the punishment in case new and exonerating evidence is obtained; and the use of the death penalty for subjective political offences such as treason and subversion. The article analyses the theoretical foundations of the death penalty, and examines the law and constitutionality of the same in Uganda. It further seeks to stimulate public debate on the subject, and to make recommendations on the future of capital punishment in Uganda. Notes, ref.