Category: Zimbabwe
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Uganda at 50 and the problem of “sham constitutions”
Today’s Sunday Monitor features a stinging but unsurprising assessment of the state of Uganda’s 1995 constitution by Busingye Kabumba, who teaches constitutional law at Makerere University in Kampala. The title says it all: “The 1995 Uganda Constitution is nothing but an illusory law.”
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New Constitution Attempts, but Is Unlikely, to End Mugabe Reign
A state-owned Zimbabwean newspaper is reporting that the new draft constitution, leaked last week, could prevent President Robert Mugabe from running for office. The salient clause, drafted by members of his own ZANU-PF party, states that “a person is disqualified for election as President if he or she has already held office for one or…
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Ban Ki-Moon on gay rights in Africa
It’s no secret that the treatment of gays and respect for gay rights in Africa can be spotty at best. (See, e.g., previous coverage on this blog of a particularly chilling chain of events in Uganda here, here, and here. And let’s not forget Zimbabwe either.)
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Zimbabwe process sputters along
Earlier this year, David Law commented on next year’s constitutional referendum in Zimbabwe and on the potential ramifications for civil rights in that country. With November deepening however, and the vote approaching, it is time to look at Zimbabwe’s constitutional chaos from another angle – separation of powers.
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Gay rights in Zimbabwe: perhaps not just yet
If you’re looking for an example of a country where gay rights are not exactly catching on, look no further than Zimbabwe. The BBC reports that Robert Mugabe, not exactly a darling of Western liberals to begin with, had this to say about the possibility of introducing gay rights into the new constitution under discussion:…