ABSTRACT

This chapter presents evidence that Uganda’s legal framework is a major causal variable for the intrusive top-down decentralisation. It highlights the role of political parties, ethnicity, national identity, educational background, the power of elites, political patronage and clientalism, corruption and traditional leadership in accentuating the intrusive nature of Uganda’s district council governing structures. The chapter deals with the manner in which district council meetings are regulated. The only injunction is that district council elections should be in accordance with Article 181(4) of the Constitution, which makes reference to a five-year term of office. In every district council, two councillors representing the elderly are elected by an association of the elderly forming an electoral college. A councillor’s mandate is revoked by the electorate if one-third of the registered voters in a district councillor’s electoral area signs a petition and lodges it with the Electoral Commission.