Creatives laud copyright Bill aloud

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OPINION

By Nuwa Wamala Nnyanzi

When Uganda’s parliament passed the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights (Amendment) Bill 2025 on March 17, the Speaker, Anita Annet Among, turned to the gallery, which was fully packed with creatives and told them to go and make noise, now that their much-awaited and longed-for Bill had been passed.

She reminded them that, after all, members of Parliament were not as ignorant as some creatives had intimated elsewhere.

It should be remembered that a couple of days before, the Speaker had wondered why radio stations should pay musicians for playing their music as proposed in clause 20, when in fact, according to her, by doing so, they are promoting them. Rt Hon Among owns Bukedea Radio.

That particular clause, if removed, would render the entire Bill irrelevant to the creatives’ prayer to be remunerated for their works whenever used for gain by others.

It is a shield that was lacking in our arsenal to defend, protect and benefit from our intellectual property rights.

As a creative, I immediately made this sketch in response to her “directive”

The two shields, one oval and the other four-sided, are derived from the Bantu and Nilotic shields, respectively, intertwined to present a truly Ugandan outlook.

I created the Ugandan shield symbol a couple of years back, and it appears in some of my recent art pieces.

Nnyanzi's Shields.

The copyright symbols are presented here in the form of two eyes wide open, nostrils, and the mouth also wide open, to bring out the noise-making impression as directed by Madam Speaker.

Over to you!

Nuwa Wamala Nnyanzi

Creative Arts Practitioner and Consultant

Nnyanzi Art Studio

nwnnyanzi@gmail.com

www.nnyanziart.com