The Search for a National Consensus

This account presents the story behind Uganda’s present constitution, established in 1995. The author was Chair of the commission charged with the task of drafting a new constitution for Uganda. The commission set out to make it, in every sense, a ‘people’s constitution’, and the final draft was based on country-wide consultations at many levels. Another intention was to bring fundamental change to the causes of the economic chaos and human rights abuses that had for decades bedevilled the country. Justice Odoki takes the reader through the workings of the commission, the analysis of the oral and written submissions and evidence it received, the drafting of the final recommendations and the content of the constitution itself. His work concludes with an assessment of its achievements as well as the problems the constitutional review process is encountering.