Democracy In Uganda Case Study

Democracy emanates from a Greek word Demokratia which literally means to the rule of people. In other words, power rests with people in democracy. (Britannica.com). “Democracy refers to a government of the people, for the people, and by the people.”-Abraham Lincoln.

Democracy refers to a system of governance in which the supreme powers are vested in the hands of people and is exercised by them indirectly or directly through a system of representation which involves periodic free and fair elections (http://www.zesn.org.zw/publications/publication_280.pdf). Most importantly, the rule of is needed to ensure that governors are held accountable through elections that are free and fair (Rose, R 2009) Democracy really means nothing or less than the

Power separation helps in preventing tyrannical rule. However, it may lead sometimes to excessive bureaucracy leading to delays in policy execution.

Much as developed countries have realized full democracy and enjoying the benefits of democracy, contrary is happening in developing countries. Most countries are still in democratization process but facing lot of challenges. This essay will focus on democracy in developing countries and Uganda will be my case study.

Uganda’s democracy path and history is highlighted below;

Uganda is considered to be a democratic country, however in my view; it’s only arriving at it this so due to a number of democratic challenges. As we will see below, even when Uganda is said to be democratic, at least in each of its governance and institutional frameworks there are quite a number of loopholes that would be based on to disqualify her as a democratic state. The major argument is based on two major aspects one being manipulation of systems and institutions by executive and less separation of power among the three major arms of Government; Executive, Legislature and Judiciary (Byaruhanga J

The challenges Uganda’s democracy faces are discussed as below.

Terrorism, the human costs of al-shabab terrorist attacks has stimulated strong demands for harsh restrictions on civil rights of Ugandans, to the detriment of the democratic process. This has led to enactment of Public order management bill which requires citizens to request police mandate before making a political rally to discuss on key issues which affect them.

Political greed, the greatest challenge to Africa’s democracy Uganda inclusive is political greed. Presidents in some African countries want to rule for life and extend the patronage to their family members. This greed has led to manipulation of parliaments, constitutions for example according to Uganda’s constitution of 1995; the president had only 3 terms of office. However when Uganda’s president term expired in 2005, he bribed members of parliament with 5millions Uganda shillings to scrap off presidential term limits without holding a referendum and it succeeded. This was a great blow to Uganda’s democracy and contempt of the