UGANDA Law and Practice Contributed by: Moses J. Adriko SC, Ernest Sembatya Kaggwa, Derrick Kizito Kunyiga and Philip E. Nsaja, MMAKS Advocates
• CADER : The statutory Centre for Arbitration and Dispute Resolution (CADER) was historically the default appointing authority. Following the Arbitra - tion and Conciliation (Amendment) Act, 2024, its functions have been mainstreamed into a depart - ment of the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs. • Foreign institutions : The International Chambers of Commerce (ICC) and the London Court of Arbitra - tion (LCIA) are commonly selected in large cross- border contracts involving Ugandan parties, usually with a foreign seat. No new arbitral institution has been established in the last 12 months; the significant institutional develop - ment has been the restructuring of CADER described in 2.2 Changes to National Law . 1.4 National Courts There is no specialised arbitration court. In practice, the Commercial Division of the High Court at Kampala is the designated forum for arbitration-related applica - tions – including applications for references back to arbitration, for interim measures, to set aside awards, and for the registration, recognition and enforcement of domestic and foreign awards – under the ACA and the Arbitration Rules in Schedule 1 thereto. The Commercial Division maintains a dedicated arbi - tration cause list, and its judges are experienced in arbitration matters. Appeals lie to the Court of Appeal only in the narrow circumstances expressly permitted by the ACA (see 11.1 Grounds for Appeal ).
The principal divergences from the Model Law are as follows: • The default number of arbitrators is one, not three (Section 10). • Appointment and challenge functions are per - formed by an “appointing authority” designated by the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs (currently ICAMEK and the CADER department in the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs), rather than by the courts, and the appointing authority’s decisions are final. • An application to set aside an award must be made within one month of receipt of the award (Section 34 (3)), rather than three months. • Section 34 contains additional setting-aside grounds, notably that the award was procured by corruption, fraud or undue means, or that there was evident partiality or corruption in an arbitrator (Section 34 (2)(a)(vi)). • Section 38 provides an opt-in appeal to the courts on questions of law where the parties have so agreed. • Section 9 contains an emphatic bar on court inter - vention except as provided in the ACA. 2.2 Changes to National Law The most consequential recent change is the Arbitra - tion and Conciliation (Amendment) Act, 2024 (Act 44 of 2024), assented to and commencing in Decem - ber 2024 as part of the government-wide rationali - sation of agencies and public expenditure (RAPEX). The amendment dissolved CADER as an autono - mous statutory body and mainstreamed its functions, including its role as an appointing authority, into a department of the Ministry of Justice and Constitu - tional Affairs. Implementation continued through 2025, and the courts bridged transitional gaps by upholding appointments made through ICAMEK as a gazetted appointing authority ( LABX Scientific Ltd v Katakwi District Local Government and Another , Miscellane - ous Cause No 2 of 2025). Separately, the Uganda Law Reform Commission has completed a comprehensive review of the ACA and submitted a study report and draft Bill to the Attorney- General proposing a modernised framework, including arbitrator immunity, strengthened interim measures, a
2. Governing Legislation 2.1 Governing Law
Arbitration is governed by the Arbitration and Con - ciliation Act, 2000 (ACA), Cap 5. The ACA governs both domestic and international arbitrations seated in Uganda. The ACA is substantially based on the 1985 UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration (“Model Law”) (it does not incorporate the 2006 revisions), and Parts III and IV give the New York Convention and the ICSID Convention force of law for enforcement purposes.
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