KIU News

  • Home /
  • KIU News /
  • KIU International Desk: COVID-19 Lockdown Defended at East Africa Court of Justice

KIU International Desk: COVID-19 Lockdown Defended at East Africa Court of Justice

kiu-international-desk-covid-19-lockdown-defended-at-east-africa-court-of-justice
KIU, Main Campus - The Attorney General of Uganda has defended the President Yoweri Museveni's directives on curfew and lockdown after they were challenged by city lawyer Male Mabirizi in mid-March at the East African Court of Justice as being unconstitutional.

Mabirizi took the government to the East African Court of Justice after a similar case was deregistered from the Kampala High Court records by Justice Andrew Bashaija. He argued that the directives which among others led to the closure schools and prohibition of religious gatherings were not backed by any law and that Uganda is not governed by decrees.

“The action of the president to close the border with Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and South Sudan which are partner states in the community without notifying them and without complying with the Uganda Health Act was in contravention of the principle of free movement of persons enshrined in the protocol of the establishment of the EAC common market,” said Mabirizi.

The Attorney General, represented by George Kallemera at the East African Court of Justice Registry in Kampala, said Mabirizi’s suit is devoid of any merit and it should be dismissed. The government contended that the President’s directives were backed by statutory instruments issued under the Health Act by the Health Minister, who in the past two months, shortly after Mabirizi filed his case, issued three instruments to enforce the government’s directives on measures taken to stop the spread of the COVID-19 disease.

The instruments included the Public Health Notification of Covid-19 Order 2020 which provided that COVID-19 should be managed under the Public Health Act Statutory Instrument number 45 of 2020, the issuing of the statutory order restricting entry into Uganda, and rules to prevent the spread of COVID-19 within Uganda.