KAMPALA – A concerned citizen has sued the Uganda Printing and Publishing Corporation (UPPC) over failure to publish and Gazette the Human Rights Enforcement Act (2019) -eight months after it was assented to by the president on 31st/March 2019.
In his law suit filed on November 11 before the High Court Civil Division, James Mubiru contends that the failure by the UPPC to publish the Human Rights Enforcement Act prohibits its operationalization as a law to benefit Ugandans.
Through his lawyer Anthony Wameli, Mubiru further states that UPPC’s refusal to publish the said Act means that it cannot be applied in the country yet there is urgent need for it.
Mubiru explains that the Human Rights Act enables every citizen to be at watch and enforce their personal liberties and freedoms including; freedom from torture and inhumane degrading treatments, brutal arrests, torture within custody and confinement beyond the mandatory 48 hours within which one can be produced before a competent court of law.
Mubiru adds the same act makes it quick for human rights activists to petition court on behalf of other people whose rights have been violated.
He also faults parliament for deliberately refusing to include deadlines within the Act on which it should be published to become law before sending it for presidential assent.
He has therefore filed an application against UPPC compelling it to publish and gazatte the Act.
He is now seeking a declaration from court that failure by the UPPC to publish the said Act is illegal and unlawful
Meanwhile, the managing Director of UPPC Gazatte Irene Muwanguzi has also petitioned court seeking to block her sacking or preventing anyone from being appointed a substantive MD.
Muwanguzi contends that her contract as MD has never been lawfully terminated yet she has been prevented from accessing her office since May 2019.
