Constitutional Court bars Bank of Uganda from indiscriminate freezing of customer bank accounts without a court order

The Constitutional Court has outlawed Section 118 and 124 of the Financial Institutions Act (2004) which previously gave the Bank of Uganda uncontrolled and unaccountable powers to freeze bank accounts held in Financial Institutions it supervises. Section 124 further protected the central bank and its official from being sued for the same. The Constitutional Court has also ordered that bank accounts of customers, can only be frozen by an order of the court, meaning that for the Bank of Uganda to freeze any account it has to seek a court order. But at the same time, customers will be given…