Constitutionalism in Africa

In October 1999, the Faculty of Law at Makerere University organised a conference on “Constitutionalism In Africa.” This conference brought together over 100 distinguished scholars, activists and researchers from all over the world. It was a lively inter-change of theory and practice, as well as a critical inspection of the condition in African constitutionalism at the turn of the twentieth century. Delegates were concerned about both the grand issues of constitutional change, as well as the minuscule questions of daily economic and social struggles confronting the African situation. Impressed by the intellectual depth of the presentations, Dr Onyango Oloka, Dean, Faculty of law at Makerere University bound them into an intellectually stimulating anthology: Constitutionalism In Africa: Creating Opportunities, Facing Challenges. Oloka is also a member of the United Nations Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights. The anthology addresses what has become one of the most burning issues of the day on the continent. For long dismissed as not worth the papers on which they were written, constitutions have assumed a new value within the context of debates about politics, statehood and democracy. The book gives a wide range of issues affecting constitutionalism’s concrete treatment. Title: Constitutionalism In Africa: Creating opportunities, Facing Challenges Editor: J. Oloka Onyango Publisher: Fountain Publishers Ltd Available at: All Leading Bookstores Price: sh15,000 Reviewed by: Sebidde Kiryowa To ensure credibility, authors restrict themselves to familiar waters, analysing with depth their subject of concern. Some of the authors adopt a broad, continental brush, taking up thematic issues that have prominence in whatever country they are concerned with. Others examine the micro level of political and social struggle that produce situations that are localised. Whatever the angle adopted, the works collected in this book provide a wealth of information on a subject that is becoming of universal concern.