Uganda’s Constitutional Court struck down a law that criminalized drugs and narcotics, such as cannabis and khat.
This decision follows a procedure initiated six years ago by a group of khat growers in response to the 2015 law, the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Actrepealed in its entirety after the Court ruled that it had been passed without the required quorum in parliament.
For a law to be debated and passed by the Ugandan parliament, at least one third of all voting members must be present in the chamber. Even though the law has been overturned, there is still a risk of arrest for the cultivation, possession, consumption or sale of drugs prohibited or restricted under other Ugandan laws.
To read : Uganda approves cultivation of medical cannabis
The farmers against the state
In the 2017 petition, Ugandan farmers, under their umbrella organization, Wakiso Miraa Growers and Dealers Associationasked the Constitutional Court to annul the law passed by the country’s Parliament which, in their view, does not comply with the principles of legality, equality, rationality and proportionality guaranteed by the Constitution, since they have never been consulted.
Growers have also argued that they are aggrieved by the manner in which the law seeks to prohibit the cultivation, possession, consumption, sale, purchase, storage, distribution, transportation, export, importation and other culture-related transactions, arguing that this decision was not supported by any evidence, scientific or otherwise.
Last Friday, Uganda’s Constitutional Court, represented by a five-judge panel, ruled that the way the law was enacted was illegal and that the only solution was to repeal it.
“At the voting stage, the bill must garner a sufficient number of votes to be legally passed. The sufficient number of votes is prescribed by Article 89, paragraph 1, of the Constitution. This is the majority of the quorum”.
The judges of the Constitutional Court therefore consider that any bill adopted without the aforementioned procedure having been respected is null and void.
“I have already established that, on the evidence presented to the Court, the Speaker of Parliament failed to verify the quorum required by Rule 23(3) of the Rules of Procedure for the 9th Parliament, 2012. I I also concluded that the evidence presented in court supported the petitioners’ assertion that there was no quorum at the time of the passage of the bill for the enactment of the law,” Judge Kibeedi ruled.
Repeal of the law
In repealing the entire act, Justice Kibeedi held that since the provisions prohibiting trade in miraa, the local name for khat, were not dealt with by Parliament independently of the rest of the provisions of the narcotics and psychotropic substances (control), the entire law must be annulled.
“As such, there is nothing to salvage in the contested law”, he judged, before annulling the law and awarding costs to the applicant.
Commenting on the judgment, Kizito Vincent, the president of the petitioners hailed this development as a great victory.
“This is a big win for a Ugandan farmer who sells miraa. Previously, our members were arrested, their businesses destroyed and many others lost their property. Following the enactment of the law, our businesses were crippled as we could no longer export and sell freely, while we have enough scientific research to prove that miraa is not dangerous,” Mr. Kizito.
“The research we conducted shows that miraa is a food and a medicine. Many of our members have been able to educate children and build homes through the sale and trade of the miraa, but the government did not take this into account when developing this law. »
He said he was ready to work with the government to ensure the streamlining of his business.
However, according to legal experts, the repeal of the current law means that the previous law, the National Drug Policy and Authority Actremains in place to fill the gap.
