Uganda’s freedoms under siege 30 years after Constitutional promise

Thirty years after Uganda ushered in a new constitutional order with a promise to never return to the dark past of dictatorship and repression, the very freedoms enshrined in the celebrated 1995 Constitution are now under siege. The Bill of Rights, once hailed as a beacon of hope and framed as a bulwark against state abuse, is today being eroded by the very institutions meant to protect it. From illegal detentions and forced disappearances to unchecked security brutality and the silencing of dissent, Uganda finds itself teetering on the edge of the same abyss it once vowed never to revisit. Yet, as military boots occupy Constitutional Square and regime security trumps civil liberties, many fear that Uganda is not just forgetting its past — it’s reliving it.