33 (3) of the Constitution of Uganda provides: ‘[T]he State shall protect women and
their rights, taking into account their unique status and natural maternal functions in
society’.
42 With the women wriggling through their agency to transform society,
stratification of society has now become archaic and dysfunctional. Its harmful
societal values have equally been fundamentally weakened. In regard to
non-citizens, and in a bid to grant them access to firm land and soil rights within
the constraints of existing land tenurial systems in the country, the Constitution
under Article 9 provides: ‘Every person who, on the commencement of this Constitution, is a citizen of Uganda shall continue to be such a citizen’. The Constitution
then provides for the modes of how a non-citizen of Uganda can acquire citizenship
in the country.
43
Once acquired, Ugandan citizenship may be lost, but cannot, thereafter be taken
away arbitrarily because it becomes a human rights aspect of the holder.
44
Indeed, Africa governments being part and parcel of the global community
attempt to incorporate the philosophical foundations of the human rights regime
envisaged under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948 into their national
legal frameworks. Much as the human rights philosophical foundations provided for
under the 1948 human rights framework are necessarily western ideals, they can be
harmonized with the African feminism thinking to create a socially and legally
balanced human rights framework for Africans. In this regard, the human rights
approach in relation to access to land and soil rights under the existing land tenurial
systems in Uganda fit well in the outfit provided by Gaard, who asserts:
[t]he moral problem arises from conflicting responsibilities rather than from competing
rights and requires for its resolution a mode of thinking that is contextual and narrative
rather than formal and abstract. This conception of morality as concerned with the activity of
care centres moral development around the understanding of responsibility and relationships, just as the conception of morality as fairness ties moral development to the understanding of rights and rule.
45
This approach, therefore, helps to put into context the wraths of the ideology of
western patriarchy, which, when viewed through the lenses of African feminism are
clearly identified as the problematic arenas of oppression to women and
42 Constitutional reforms in Uganda were contemporaneously adopted with the global agitation for
women’s equal rights in all spheres at the various United Nations Women Conferences, including
the Beijing Conference in 1995.
43 Article 12 of the Constitution provides for acquisition of Ugandan citizenship by registration,
while Article 13 provides for acquisition of Ugandan citizenship by naturalization.
44 Article 14 of the Constitution provides for how Ugandan citizenship may be lost, namely: A
person may be deprived of his or her citizenship if acquired by registration, on any of the following
grounds: (b) voluntary service in the armed forces or security forces of a country hostile to or at war
with Uganda; (c) acquisition of Uganda citizenship by fraud, deceit, bribery, or having made
intentional and deliberate false statements in his or her application for citizenship; and
(d) espionage against Uganda.
45 Gaard (1993).
African Feminism, Land Tenure and Soil Rights in Africa: A Case of Uganda
141
their rights, taking into account their unique status and natural maternal functions in
society’.
42 With the women wriggling through their agency to transform society,
stratification of society has now become archaic and dysfunctional. Its harmful
societal values have equally been fundamentally weakened. In regard to
non-citizens, and in a bid to grant them access to firm land and soil rights within
the constraints of existing land tenurial systems in the country, the Constitution
under Article 9 provides: ‘Every person who, on the commencement of this Constitution, is a citizen of Uganda shall continue to be such a citizen’. The Constitution
then provides for the modes of how a non-citizen of Uganda can acquire citizenship
in the country.
43
Once acquired, Ugandan citizenship may be lost, but cannot, thereafter be taken
away arbitrarily because it becomes a human rights aspect of the holder.
44
Indeed, Africa governments being part and parcel of the global community
attempt to incorporate the philosophical foundations of the human rights regime
envisaged under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948 into their national
legal frameworks. Much as the human rights philosophical foundations provided for
under the 1948 human rights framework are necessarily western ideals, they can be
harmonized with the African feminism thinking to create a socially and legally
balanced human rights framework for Africans. In this regard, the human rights
approach in relation to access to land and soil rights under the existing land tenurial
systems in Uganda fit well in the outfit provided by Gaard, who asserts:
[t]he moral problem arises from conflicting responsibilities rather than from competing
rights and requires for its resolution a mode of thinking that is contextual and narrative
rather than formal and abstract. This conception of morality as concerned with the activity of
care centres moral development around the understanding of responsibility and relationships, just as the conception of morality as fairness ties moral development to the understanding of rights and rule.
45
This approach, therefore, helps to put into context the wraths of the ideology of
western patriarchy, which, when viewed through the lenses of African feminism are
clearly identified as the problematic arenas of oppression to women and
42 Constitutional reforms in Uganda were contemporaneously adopted with the global agitation for
women’s equal rights in all spheres at the various United Nations Women Conferences, including
the Beijing Conference in 1995.
43 Article 12 of the Constitution provides for acquisition of Ugandan citizenship by registration,
while Article 13 provides for acquisition of Ugandan citizenship by naturalization.
44 Article 14 of the Constitution provides for how Ugandan citizenship may be lost, namely: A
person may be deprived of his or her citizenship if acquired by registration, on any of the following
grounds: (b) voluntary service in the armed forces or security forces of a country hostile to or at war
with Uganda; (c) acquisition of Uganda citizenship by fraud, deceit, bribery, or having made
intentional and deliberate false statements in his or her application for citizenship; and
(d) espionage against Uganda.
45 Gaard (1993).
African Feminism, Land Tenure and Soil Rights in Africa: A Case of Uganda
141