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Uganda Table of Contents

Uganda

SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT

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Uganda's parliament building was formerly occupied by the National Assembly. Since the advent of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) government in January 1986, all legislative powers have been vested in the National Resistance Council (NRC).
Courtesy Nelson Kasfir

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Figure 8. Structure of Resistance Councils and Executive Committees, 1990

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Queuing up to vote in a resistance council election in a village just outside Kampala, August 1986
Courtesy Nelson Kasfir

By the end of 1989, Uganda was in the middle of a transition period in which the structure of government was being defined. President Museveni served as head of state, head of the military, and chair of the highest legislative body, the NRC. Below the NRC was a hierarchy of district, county, subcounty, parish, and village RCs, each with decision-making authority in that area. RC members at each level were elected by RC members at the next lower level. Uganda had also developed a complex hierarchy of courts under British rule, supplemented by Islamic and customary institutions for resolving disputes.

Data as of December 1990