The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The High Court has given the government two weeks to mediate in the case where two lawyers want the constitution translated into local languages.
In 2019, the government was sued for its alleged failure to translate the 1995 Constitution into 56 indigenous languages.
The lawsuit was filed by a concerned magistrate, Mr Martins Kirya and, Michael Aboneka, an advocate through Thomas & Michael Advocates.
The duo petitioners state that as a result of the government’s failure to translate the constitution, there has been an increased denial of rights awareness leading to the violation of citizens’ rights.
The lawyers also wanted the government to review the Education Curriculum of all Education Training institutions to promote the full awareness and teaching of the constitution among other orders.
They argued that that in the third schedule of the constitution, the government committed itself to promote public awareness of the constitution by disseminating and translating it into indigenous languages.
On Thursday, their lawyer Gawaya Tegule on behalf of the applicants and State Attorney Moses Mugisha appeared before High Court Civil Division Judge Boniface Wamala and asked to be given time to finalize the mediation and other legal issues.
The government says that the case was wrongly filed before the High Court and the rules of procedure were not properly followed.
As a result, Wamala gave them two more weeks until September 23, 2020, to harmonize on the issues of the law and return to court and update him on the progress.
The Judge said if mediation fails, he will set a date for the hearing to commence.
But Aboneka says that when they were sent for mediation, they agreed that the translation of the constitution can be done in phases within two years.
According to Aboneka, they reportedly agreed that the government can schedule to teach people on television about the constitution.
********
URN
