KIZZA ARNOLD LUMINSA. 1 THE DOCTRINE OF SEPARATION OF POWERS. The doctrine of Separation of Powers deals with the mutual relations among the three organs of the Government namely legislature, Executive and Judiciary. Lord Mustill in R vs Home Secretary, Ex parte Fine Brigades Union 1 defined the doctrine of separation of powers in England as: - “It is a feature of the peculiarly British conception of the Separation of powers that Parliament, the executive and the courts have each their distinct and largely exclusive domain. Parliament has a legally unchallengeable right to make whatever laws it thinks right. The executive carries on the administration of the country in accordance with the powers conferred on it by law. The courts interpret the laws, and see that they are obeyed. ” 2 The doctrine of separation of powers has been further defined as the “Separation of Power of the states from that of the federal government into three branches (Executive, Legislative and Judicial), each of which has specific powers upon which neither of the others can usurp. These checks and balance are given large credit for the prevention of a tyrant ever seizing power in the country. 3 According to Montesquieu: “When the legislative and executive powers are united in the same person, or in the same body or Magistrate, there can be no liberty. Again, there is no liberty if the judicial power is not separated from the Legislative and Executive power. Where it joined with the legislative power, the life and liberty of the subject would be exposed to arbitrary control, for the judge would then be the legislator. Where it joined with the executive power, the judge might behave with violence and oppression. There would be an end of everything were the same man or the same body to exercise these three powers...” 4 In other words, each organ should restrict itself to its own sphere and restrain from transgressing the province of the other and hence in the long run by so creating separate institutions of this nature, it is possible to have a system of checks and balances between them. In 1966, Dr. Apollo Milton Obote abrogated the 1962 Independence Constitution replacing it with a new Constitution. This 1967 constitution reaffirmed Uganda a republic since Uganda was then going to be 1 [1995] 2 AC 513. 2 ibid 3 Webster’s New World Law Dictionary, By Susan Ellis Wild-legal Editor at page 237- Wiley Publishing Inc. 4 Montesquieu, De L‟ Espirit des lois, 1748 quoted in Justice D.D. Basu: Administrative Law, Edn. 199, p. 23