This study examined how Ugandan courts safeguarded the right to a fair hearing in criminal trials. It combined doctrinal analysis of Articles 23, 28 and 44 of the 1995 Constitution and landmark decisions with a quantitative review of 320 criminal case files. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlations, multiple linear regression and binary logistic regression were used to examine the determinants of delay to trial and of findings of fair-hearing violations. Legal representation reduced delay by 2.44 months and lowered the odds of a recorded fair-hearing violation by 84 per cent, while prosecution disclosure lowered those odds by 70 per cent. Serious offences and High Court trials were associated with longer delay, and serious offences raised the odds of a violation almost four-fold. The study concluded that Uganda’s constitutional guarantees were strong, but that unequal access to counsel, pre-trial disclosure and timely trial created uneven protection. Recommendations addressed state-funded counsel, disclosure rules, remand management and judicial case flow.