Planning leave around Ugandan public holidays

By Collins Odeny. Last updated: 19 October 2026.

Chapter 174 on ULII, and Cap. 255 as the previous revised chapter

I opened the ULII consolidation of the Public Holidays Act, dated 31 December 2023. That 2023 consolidation is titled Chapter 174. The same page records the previous revised chapter as Cap. 255 (Revised Edition, 2000). Section 2(1) declares the days in Schedule 2 to be public holidays throughout Uganda every year. Section 2(2) lets the President declare any other day a public holiday, and lets that declaration be limited to an area or place.

Schedule 2 in that text lists Archbishop Janan Luwum Day on 16 February; Birth of Prophet Muhammed Day; Boxing Day 26 December; Christmas Day 25 December; Easter Monday; Good Friday; Idd Adhua; Idd el-Fitr Day; Idd-ul-Zuho Day; Independence Day 9 October; Labour Day 1 May; Martyrs’ Day 3 June; National Heroes Day 9 June; New Year’s Day 1 January; and Women’s Day 8 March.

Liberation Day on 26 January is not in that Schedule 2. The Act I opened names the public holidays in Schedule 2; 26 January is not among them.

What this site’s Uganda list adds or misspells

The date-holidays public list this project ships for Uganda 2026 includes New Year’s Day 1 January, Liberation Day 26 January, Archbishop Janan Luwum Day 16 February, estimated Eid al-Fitr 20 March, Women’s Day 8 March, Good Friday 3 April, Easter Sunday 5 April, Easter Monday 6 April, Labour Day 1 May, estimated Eid al-Adha 27 May, Martyr’s Day 3 June, National Heroes Day 9 June, Independence Day 9 October, Christmas 25 December, and Boxing Day 26 December.

Two honest mismatches: this site’s list prints Easter Sunday as a public holiday, and Schedule 2 does not. This site’s list prints Liberation Day, and Schedule 2 does not. I am leaving both dates visible in the studio because that is what this site’s Uganda list shows today. I am telling you the Act I opened does not carry them as Schedule 2 days.

Section 2(2) is the lawful way Liberation Day can still be a public holiday: a presidential declaration, possibly limited in place. I did not successfully open that declaration for 2026, so I will not upgrade 26 January to a Schedule 2 fact. If your workplace closes on Liberation Day — and many do — ask for the notice rather than citing this paragraph as the statute.

Martyrs’ Day, National Heroes Day, and the June pair

Martyrs’ Day is 3 June. National Heroes Day is 9 June. They are six days apart every year. In 2026 that is Wednesday then Tuesday. In 2027 it is Thursday then Wednesday. In 2028 it is Saturday then Friday.

Saturday 3 June 2028 is a rest day on this site’s Saturday–Sunday weekend. Friday 9 June 2028 is already a three-day weekend. 2026’s mid-week pair is the harder staffing week: two named closes with ordinary weekdays between them. Do not treat “June holidays” as one blob.

I will not narrate the 1886 namugongo commemorations or a particular military history beyond the statutory names. The Act’s names are enough to keep two teams from calling both days “Heroes.”

Women’s Day, Luwum Day, and Independence Day

Women’s Day is 8 March on Schedule 2. In 2026 it is a Sunday — a rest day here, not a lost weekday. In 2027 it is a Monday. In 2028 it is a Wednesday. A Sunday Women’s Day does not mint a Monday on this Uganda list. The Act I opened has no South African section 2(1).

Archbishop Janan Luwum Day is 16 February. In 2026 it is a Monday. In 2027 it is a Tuesday. In 2028 it is a Wednesday. It is a Schedule 2 day, not a studio decoration.

Independence Day is 9 October. In 2026 it is a Friday. In 2027 it is a Saturday. In 2028 it is a Monday. Friday 2026 is the free long weekend. Saturday 2027 is not a Monday I will invent. Monday 2028 is the civil date itself.

Eid names, Labour Day, and the December pair

Schedule 2 lists Idd el-Fitr Day, Idd Adhua, and Idd-ul-Zuho Day. I list one Fitr date and one Adha date. I am not going to decide whether “Idd Adhua” and “Idd-ul-Zuho” are one feast or two from an English schedule without a gazette I opened. Treat lunar dates as estimates until a notice appears. 2026 shows 20 March and 27 May, the same neighbourhood as the other East African estimates that year.

Labour Day is 1 May: Friday 2026, Saturday 2027, Monday 2028. Christmas and Boxing Day are 25 and 26 December. In 2026 that is Friday and Saturday. In 2027 Saturday and Sunday. In 2028 Monday and Tuesday. 2027’s Christmas pair sits entirely on the ordinary weekend on this list.

Birth of Prophet Muhammed Day is on Schedule 2 without a Gregorian date. The Uganda public list I opened for this guide does not show a 2026 Mawlid date. I will not invent one.

Section 3 pay language, and the number I will not invent

Section 3 of the Act I opened requires an employer to pay full remuneration for a public holiday as if it had been a full day’s work, and it sets extra-pay or leave-in-lieu rules when someone works that day. A currency point in Schedule 1 is twenty thousand shillings. I am not converting that into a 2026 net-pay example.

Section 3(7) says those pay rules do not apply to a section 2(2) holiday if the declaration states that it is unpaid. That is one more reason to read the Liberation Day instrument, if you have it, instead of assuming Schedule 2 economics.

The payroll guide stays at concepts. Uganda’s statute is more explicit than I will be on a calendar website. Ask counsel or the labour office for a rate.

How I would sequence a Uganda leave conversation

Write the Schedule 2 dates first: 1 January, 16 February, 8 March, Easter, 1 May, 3 June, 9 June, 9 October, 25–26 December, plus the Idd days once they are declared. Then ask whether Liberation Day on 26 January is being observed this year, and on what instrument. Then ask whether Easter Sunday is a workplace close even though it is not on Schedule 2.

In 2026, Friday Labour Day, Friday Independence Day, and Friday Christmas are the free long weekends. Monday Luwum Day is a three-day February weekend. Sunday Women’s Day is not a lost weekday. In 2028, Monday Independence Day and Monday Christmas are the free ends of the year, and Saturday Martyrs’ Day is not.

There is no Uganda school-term circular on this site. Print from the studio after picking Uganda. Subscribe at /feeds/ug-2026.ics. Uganda is in the catalogue and the feeds. It is not in the sitemap as a /uganda/2026/ hub. Email contact@africacalendar.app with a statutory instrument if 26 January or an Idd weekday needs a correction on this list.

The ULII page I opened, dated 31 December 2023 and recording Cap. 255 (Revised Edition, 2000) as the previous revised chapter, is the statute I would print and mark: Schedule 2 first, then any section 2(2) instrument for 26 January, then the employer memo. I will not treat the studio’s Liberation Day or Easter Sunday rows as Schedule 2 days until those papers exist.

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