ULS launches the Electoral Observation Report as new law year 2026 opens.

On 5th the Uganda Law Society (ULS) marked the opening of the New Law Year, and the commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the National Bar Association for Uganda at their office at Acacia Avenue highlight key issues and launching the Election observation Report on the general 2026 elections. 

The parallel opening of he law year according to the the Vice President of ULS Counsel Anthony Asiimwe is hinged on last year’s incident where the society was unceremoniously denied the opportunity to speak as an essential component in the realization of a democratic society.

“Last year, in on 7 February 2025, despite appearing on the programme, the President of the Uganda Law Society was unceremoniously denied the opportunity to speak. The Bar Is an essential component in the realisation of a democratic society that guarantees respect for human rights and ensures access to justice for all. To exclude the Bar from a forum meant to audit the Government’s obligations to the public and reflect on the state of justice is constitutionally absurd” he said.

Anthony Asiimwe during Interviews

Making remarks on behalf of ULS President and Head of the Bar Mr. Isaac Ssemakadde he added that “it is precisely because of this exclusion that the Uganda Law Society has chosen to hold its own Opening of the New Law Year, to speak openly about the realities confronting both our members and the public we serve, and to place before the nation a true and fair audit of their governance as well as the fundamental issues affecting justice delivery that cannot be ignored”  

The Vice President said that the report grounded in first-hand observations, verified public reports, legal interventions, and corroborated media accounts with participation of different lawyers across region in Uganda reaffirming the ULS’s commitment to the rule of law.

“As we open this New Law Year, the Uganda Law Society reaffirms its commitment to the rule of law, democracy, and the protection of human rights. We also reaffirm that justice in Uganda cannot be advanced through exclusion, silence, or unilateralism. It requires honest dialogue, mutual respect, and the meaningful participation of all institutions entrusted with its administration” he said  

Nina Kankunda (Nina Roz)

One of he participants in the elections in Ssembabule district Ninah Kankunda shared her devastating experience in elections condemning the acts of state operatives who inflict violence to her supporters and threatened her life to the borne marrow, calling upon lawyers to intervene.  

“Its on record that government did not give us a chance to represent the voices of Uganda’s youth. I wouldn’t advise any youth to join Uganda’s dirty politics. I call upon lawyers to act because you are our only hope. It was my first time to participate in the elections” she narrated.

In the report key highlights during the recently concluded elections, includes the unwarranted militarization manifested starkly through the widespread deployment of military personnel in what should remain purely civilian and democratic spaces, Lawyers, alongside ordinary citizens, facing unlawful arrests, violence, intimidation, and coercion, prominent human rights defenders systematically targeted, NGOs and CSOs arbitrarily suspended, activists arbitrarily arrested, detained, assaulted, among others.