An examination of the efficacy of mediation in resolving employment disputes in Uganda

Abstract

Mediation is widely promoted in international labour-justice scholarship as a faster, cheaper, and more relationship-preserving alternative to litigation. This study started from the hypothesis that, although mediation is recognised in the Labour Disputes (Arbitration and Settlement) Act, Cap 227, the Employment Act, Cap 226, and the Judicature (Mediation) Rules, 2013, it remains underused and poorly integrated within the country’s employment-dispute resolution system. Adopting a doctrinal and comparative methodology, supplemented by qualitative interviews with the dispute resolution team leader at the Platform for Labour Action (PLA) and the Labour Officer at Makindye Division, this dissertation examines the efficacy of mediation in resolving employment disputes in Uganda. The study critically analyses the constitutional, statutory, and institutional architecture; compares mediation with litigation across the four metrics of cost, speed, confidentiality, and party satisfaction; and benchmarks Uganda’s framework against the jurisdictions of Kenya and Ghana. The study finds that Uganda’s framework on labour dispute mediation does not lay a clear foundation for settling all employment disputes through mediation; that Labour Officers operate without consistent qualification standards; and that the Industrial Court remains overstretched, handling thousands of pending cases each year while conducting only a few dozen mediations. Through the comparative analysis, the study finds that by contrast, Kenya and Ghana demonstrate that mandatory mediation, autonomous institutions, automatic enforceability, and decentralised reach can together produce settlement rates well above fifty per cent (50%) and disposal times measured in weeks rather than years. Kenya and Ghana are adopted as comparisons because they are directly comparable African common-law contexts. The dissertation argues that mediation in Uganda will not realise its potential through legal recognition alone. It proposes a coordinated package of legal, institutional, operational, and contractual reforms, including the resolution of the ambiguity between Sections 12 and 92 of the Employment Act, the statutory enforceability of mediated settlements, the decentralisation of the Industrial Court through regional mediation panels, the mandatory accreditation and training of mediators, and the standardisation of contractual mediation clauses in employment contracts. According to the study, adoption of these reforms will transform mediation from a peripheral procedural option into a central pillar of Uganda’s labour-justice system. Consequently, the reforms will advance industrial harmony, equitable access to justice, and the constitutional commitment to expeditious dispute resolution under Article 126 of the Constitution.