Third World Legal Studies Volume 14 The Governance of Internal Security Forces Article 6 in Sub-Saharan Africa 1-6-1997 Human Rights and Structure of Police and Internal Security Forces in Uganda Nagujja Zam Zam Follow this and additional works at: http://scholar.valpo.edu/twls Recommended Citation Zam Zam, Nagujja (1997) "Human Rights and Structure of Police and Internal Security Forces in Uganda," Third World Legal Studies: Vol. 14, Article 6. Available at: http://scholar.valpo.edu/twls/vol14/iss1/6 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Valparaiso University Law School at ValpoScholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in Third World Legal Studies by an authorized administrator of ValpoScholar. For more information, please contact a ValpoScholar staff member at
[email protected]. HUMAN RIGHTS AND STRUCTURE OF POLICE AND INTERNAL SECURITY FORCES IN UGANDA Nagujja Zam Zam I. BACKGROUND Uganda, like many African countries in the pre-colonial era, was a multiplicity of small kingdoms, chiefdoms and tribal societies. The primary interest of these peoples was subsistence. Criminal justice was maintained by kinship and the ultimate right to seek vengeance through the blood feud. There was a large degree of stability without a central authority, and in the 1870s a rudimentary criminal justice system existed. Punishment of breaches of peace was based on individual action rather than an established authority, except in the kingdoms of Buganda and Bunyoro-Kitara which had a more institutionalised set up. In the Buganda, each kingdom had its "army" for protection and expansion of the kingdom through tribal wars.