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The Political Question Doctrine In Uganda: A Reassessment In The Wake Of The Cehurd, David B. Dennison

David Brian Dennison

The political question doctrine protects certain governmental actions and decisions from judicial review. The doctrine emerged in the United States in the early 19th Century. It reached Ugandan jurisprudence in Ex parte Matovu in 1966. After Matovu, the doctrine existed in relative obscurity in Uganda. The doctrine made a dramatic resurgence in the Constitutional Court’s judgment in Centre of Health Human Rights & Development (CEHURD) and Three Others v. Attorney General.

In CEHURD, the Constitutional Court held that the political question doctrine prevented the court from reviewing government policy concerning the provision of maternal health care. The CEHURD judgment ruffled …