Daudi Ndibarema v Enganzi of Ankole

• Jurisdiction: Uganda
• Date: 28 May 1959
• Court: High Court (Uganda)

Uganda, High Court.

(Sheridan J.)

Daudi Ndibarema and Others

and

The Enganzi of Ankole and Others.

Treaties Operation of Necessity for municipal legislation Ankole Agreement, 1901, between British Crown and African Ruler in Uganda Protectorate Whether municipal legislation in conflict with Ankole Agreement The law of Uganda.

The Facts.By the Ankole Agreement, 1901,1 between the British Government and the Chiefs of Ankole in the Uganda Protectorate, H.M. Government recognized the supreme and divisional Chiefs of Ankole, and allowed them to nominate their successors who would also be recognized provided they adhered to the terms of the Agreement. It was also agreed, inter alia, that (a) all waste and uncultivated land, all forests, mines, minerals and salt deposits should be the property of H.M. Government, the revenue of which should be included in the general revenues of the Uganda Protectorate; (b) the natives of Ankole should have the same forest privileges as applied elsewhere in Uganda; and (c) Ankole should be subject to the laws in force throughout Uganda. Prior to 1901 the Omugabe of Ankole appointed chiefs on the advice of his elders and Saza Chiefs. After 1901 Chiefs were appointed as before except that the names of candidates were forwarded by the administration to the Governor for approval. In 1955, regulations were introduced by which thirteen Chiefs were to be appointed by the Omugabe in conformity with the advice of an appointments committee which was to consist of twelve Saza Chiefs and the elected members of the District Council of Ankole. In March 1958 the general purposes committee of the District Council resolved to approve of an appointments committee being set up. In August the District Council purported to meet and pass resolutions without a quorum of members being present. One resolution was to set up an appointments committee and another approved a proposal to introduce land titles on a pilot scheme. In October 1958 the plaintiffs sued for declarations that these two projects were ultra vires the Ankole Agreement, 1901, the first because it usurped the Omugabe's right of appointing Chiefs and the second because it would enable the Governor under the Crown Lands (Adjudication) Rules, 1958, to have dealings with the Omugabe's subjects without his consent. The plaintiffs' case was presented on the basis that the Ankole Agreement was part of the law of Uganda. This was disputed by the defendants, who included the Engazi of Ankole, the District Commissioner and the Attorney-General of Uganda, for whom it was contended that the Ankole Agreement, 1901, was an Act of State beyond the control of either municipal law or the jurisdiction of the courts.

Held: that the action must be dismissed. (1) A treaty was an Act of State the making and performance of which was outside the jurisdiction of the municipal courts. (2) A treaty did not have the force of law for the municipal courts unless it had been incorporated by statute into municipal law.

The Court, after setting out the relevant articles of the Ankole...