Court throws out case challenging tax on diapers for adults

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The High Court in Kampala has dismissed a case in which a feminist organisation was challenging the imposition of tax on adult diapers.

Women’s Probono Initiative filed the case in 2023 seeking a declaration that the decision by Parliament reached on May 4, 2023, approving the imposition of a tax on adult diapers was irrational and unfair.

The organisation argued that the removal of adult diapers from the list of tax-exempt goods under section 8 (a) of the Value Added Tax (Amendment) Act, 2023, imposed a tax on adult diapers, and it was thus irrational.

Women’s Probono Initiative wanted the court to issue a permanent injunction stopping the Government or its servants from implementing the imposition of a tax on adult diapers.

However, dismissing the case in a ruling dated March 19, 2026, High Court Judge Simon Peter Kinobe said it was filed in the wrong court.

He said they ought to have filed a constitutional petition to the Constitutional Court instead of a judicial review application in the High Court.

“This application is therefore dismissed with no orders as to costs as it involved a matter of public interest,” Kinobe ruled.

Justice Kinobe noted that Acts of Parliament (legislation) as opposed to actions of Parliament, are not administrative decisions amenable to Judicial Review.

“The proper recourse would be to file a constitutional petition in the Constitutional Court under Article 137 of the Constitution alleging that the Act or its provisions are inconsistent with the Constitution clearly identifying the specific constitutional rights infringed,” Justice Kinobe said.

Justifying his decision, Justice Kinobe said that although the Women’s Probono Initiative alleged that the actions of Parliament were irrational and the imposition of the tax was unfair, it failed to demonstrate how irrational Parliament acted in passing the Value Added (Amendment) Act 2023.

Rahom Maria Bukirwa, a program manager at Women’s Probono Initiative, argued that Parliament passed the law without due consideration to the various categories of people who use and need diapers for their everyday use and would make them unaffordable with the imposition of a tax.

Bukirwa contended that the Parliament’s decision to impose a tax on adult diapers was unfair and was done without due consideration to the persons and children with multiple disabling conditions, women with fistula and other complications who use them every day.

However, in defence, the Parliament, through its principal legal counsel, Moses Akena, argued that it holds a constitutional mandate under Article 79 of the Constitution to enact legislation, including tax statutes, for the good governance of the country.

Akena said the decision to impose tax on adult diapers was made after robust debate and in the best interest of the country.

Akena also stated that the imposition of Value Added Tax (VAT) on all types of diapers did not amount to discrimination nor violated the rights of the elderly since the government aimed at mobilising resources for the social good of the country.

“Taxes are a form of raising revenue sanctioned by the Constitution, and the imposition of taxes does not deprive the applicants of the right to equality,” Akena submitted.