The Constitutional Court in Kampala has nullified the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Control Act of 2015, stating that it was passed without the required quorum in Parliament.

The decision was made by a panel of five justices, including the Deputy Chief Justice Richard Buteera, Supreme Court Judge Stephen Musota, Muzamiru Mutangula Kibeedi, Irene Mulyagonja, and Monica Mugyenyi.

They unanimously allowed a 2017 petition filed by Wakiso Miraa Growers and Dealers Association Limited against the Attorney General, who challenged the Act for criminalizing the cultivation, possession, consumption, sale, distribution, transportation, and exportation of Khat, also known as Mairungi, by classifying it as a prohibited drug.

The petitioners argued that the prohibition was not supported by any scientific evidence and had a negative impact on the livelihood, property, cultural, and socio-economic rights of the petitioners who are Mairungi farmers, sellers, and consumers. The Chairperson of Wakiso Miraa Growers and Dealers Association Limited, Vincent Kizito, explained that the crop is a source of their family incomes and their children's school fees.

In their judgement, the Justices agreed with the Mairungi farmers that the process of passing the bill was flawed as the required number of MPs was absent on November 19th, 2015, when the bill was passed, and the Deputy Speaker did not verify the existence of the required quorum.

Therefore, the Justices ruled that Parliament breached its own rules of procedure, and the Act was declared null and void. The government was ordered to pay the farmers' costs they have spent on this petition.

The government had classified Mairungi as a prohibited drug because it increases blood pressure, elicits feelings of increased alertness and arousal.