The republic of uganda in the supreme court of uganda at kampala

(a) Where it relates to any proceedings, application or other matter commenced in any court or referable to a court; or

(b) Where under any written law an affidavit is authorised to be sworn.

4. (1) In every case to which section 3 does not apply a person wishing to depone to any fact for any purpose may do so by means of a statutory declaration.

(2) ……………………

7. (1) A person wishing to depone outside Uganda to any fact for any purpose in Uganda may make a statutory declaration before any person authorised to take a statutory declaration by the law of the country in which the declaration is made.

(2) ……………………..

(3) A statutory declaration taken outside Uganda under this section shall not be admissible in evidence unless it is registered with the Registrar of documents under the Registration of Documents Act.” (Emphasis is added)

It is obvious to me that affidavits excepted under S.3 (a), are affidavits taken in Uganda only. The wording in S.7 is quite explicit that outside Uganda, deponing “to any fact for any purpose in Uganda” is to be by means of a statutory declaration. If Parliament had intended to except affidavits made outside Uganda for the purpose of court proceedings in Uganda, it would have done as expressly as it did in S.3, or by reference as it did in S.4 of the same Act.

To my understanding therefore, since the document was not registered it was strictly inadmissible under S.7 (3) of Act 10 of 2000. However, the statutory declaration was not defective in itself. The deficiency could be, and would most probably have been, rectified by registering the document, if attention had been drawn to the deficiency earlier. Upon such registration, it would have been admissible. Given the constraints which even determined the timing of the objection, I was inclined to invoke the provisions of Art. 126(e) of the Constitution. I was satisfied that in the interests of substantive justice it was proper that the document, containing material evidence as it did, ought to be admitted rather than shut out on a technicality.