Govt defends UPDF law, says critics crying foul is based on 'imagination'

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The Government has dismissed claims that the recently passed Uganda People’s Defence Forces (Amendment) Act, 2025, stripped power from civilian authorities.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with New Vision Online on July 15, 2025, Uganda Media Centre acting executive director Obed Katureebe said such concerns are based on “imagination” and not grounded in the actual provisions of the law.

“These professional service units (Land Forces, Air Forces, Special Forces Command and Reserve Forces), being given clear command and control, is professional conduct. It has nothing to deal with civilian democracy, absolutely not. To the contrary, the Act is meant to professionalise UPDF to be a more pro-people force, professional in conduct and outlook,” Katurebe clarified.

Under the revised law, the Special Forces Command (SFC), which started out as Presidential Guard Brigade and is now commanded by Maj. Gen. David Mugisha and Reserve Forces under Lt Gen. Otema Awany, are now independent services. Having been elevated from their previous status, which put them under the Land Forces, something critics say signals a hidden agenda.

“We cannot go into speculations, but let's look at the law itself. The law provides for how people’s pensions will be paid, ranks will be formulated and making UPDF courts more professional,” he reiterated. 

He added that while the UPDF has often faced criticism for its involvement in elections, it only intervenes in situations where the police are overwhelmed and has no intention to man polling stations.

“Remember, even polling stations that used to be in barracks were removed long ago. UPDF will only be on in areas on standby, should there be cases of violence that can cost lives, to save the situation,” Katurebe said.

Media report pre-launch

His response followed concerns by Godber Tumushabe that the country was rapidly drifting back into military rule. Tumushabe echoed this on Tuesday, July 15, 2025, during the media pre-launch of a new report titled “Guns everywhere; The Military and Transition Politics in Uganda,” held at Protea Hotel in Kampala.

The seven-month-long research, co-authored by Andrew Karamagi, Barnet Musasizi, and Job Kiija, details the military's dominant role in Uganda’s social, economic, social arenas.

Findings

Speaking on Tuesday, Tumushabe argued that although the 1995 Constitution vested power in the hands of the people, the reality that followed paints a starkly different picture.

Over the years, he said, a deliberate shift in legislative, administrative, and budgetary structures has steadily funnelled power back to the military.

A reversal, he believes was cemented by the recent enactment of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) Act, 2025.

“The law’s codification of the administratively constituted services; the Reserve Forces and the Special Forces Command (SFC), the concentration of military power in the Joint Command and the High Command and hence the Chief of Defence Forces without clear structures for civilian oversight and accountability,” he stated.

“And the extension of jurisdiction of military courts to try civilians fundamentally alters the balance of power from the ‘WE THE PEOPLE’ to the military. The law constitutes an undeclared coup d'état against Article 1 of the Constitution, which declares that power belongs to the people,” Tumushabe added. 

He noted that the military now dominates nearly every facet of Ugandan society and has assumed an increasingly prominent role in the electoral process. A development, Tumushabe contends goes a long way to explain rising acts of violence that have marred recent elections.

“You can see the military taking over certain sectors of the economy, including local level procurement, where schools and hospitals at the local level are being constructed by the engineering brigade. The implication is that you suffocate the potential emergence of the private sector because the military is not able to engage in competitive bidding processes,” he explained.

Tumushabe added that under the UPDF (Amendment) Act 2025, a legal department has been formally established within the UPDF. This, he explained, empowers the military to handle legal matters that extend beyond its traditional realm.

“The UPDF now has chambers, licensed by the Law Council,” he pointed out.

“By establishing a legal department and law firm, basically, the effect is to remove the military from the purview of the Attorney General’s chambers. Because every other agency of Government that is not a legal entity, is actually supposed to be overseen by the Attorney General’s chambers. All these changes have changed the power structure in this country by basically giving the military more power compared to the civilian authorities, where the power is supposed to reside,” Tumushabe contended.

Lawyer Tumusiime Kato, who represents Dr Kizza Besigye and Obed Lutale, argued that the army’s growing obsession with civilian jurisprudence stems from its discomfort with a judiciary that cannot be commanded.

“The trial of civilians in the General Court Martial. My issue is not that the regime or state lacks trust in the civilian judicial system; it’s a bigger issue that the state feels that civilians are not commanded according to what they wish. They would want somebody to be in charge of the judicial system who can take commands and do exactly what they want,” Kato argued. 

Possible transition scenarios

Furthermore, he warned that by incessantly weaponising and deploying UPDF to settle inherently political disputes, Uganda appears to be ‘sleepwalking’ toward a post-2026 future which shall be defined not by peaceful transition. But by a ‘warrior-mad-king’ scenario, where brute force is most likely to dictate the country’s next chapter.

In their 2021 transition paper, they outlined several possible scenarios, including the ‘Flying Crane’, where, despite historical differences, the country’s various factions come together to collectively chart a path forward and the ‘Storm in a Teacup’ where change appears to occur, but the underlying power structures remain largely intact.

According to Gen. (rtd) Mugisha Muntu, this trend should not come as a surprise, as all authoritarian governments tend to construct similar architectures of security control over the citizenry to serve their own interests.

Muntu said there were opportune moments when Uganda could have taken a different course. One such moment, he noted, was in 1964, during the military mutinies in Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania. However, due to inaction and lack of resolve, the chance to reform the security apparatus was lost.

“There was a mutiny here and they arrested the Minister of Defence the late Felix Onama and held him in what later became known as Gadhafi garrison in Jinja. What did Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania do? The only country that took a different decision was Tanzania, which took that opportunity to dismantle what used to be the Kings
African Rifles and started from a fresh foundation,” Muntu narrated.

“Here, nothing happened. It’s also surprising that the two coups which took place look at those who were in command. First, General Amin, who didn’t even reach Primary Seven, second time, Gen. Lutwa also left Primary, but they were commanders of the army. But there were many educated Ugandans in the forces,” he added. 

To Muntu, the most salient question researchers should be asking themselves is how on earth did a Parliament with over 300 well-educated members from the ruling party allowed the UPDF (Amendment) Act 2025 to sail through.

“The status of the political environment in any country is a reflection, as far as I can see, of the levels of consciousness of citizenry. Two, it is also a reflection of the character of the elite. To solve this problem, you have to solve these two. Before you deal with them, it will continue deepening further. There is no end to this,” he warned.

WHAT OTHERS SAY

Gerald Karuhanga (ANT Spokesperson)

I would want us to relate to what is happening in Sudan between the Rapid Support Forces (commanded by Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo) and the Sudan Armed Forces (commanded by Gen. Abdel Fattah al Burhan). You realise that the creation of two or more less armies could certainly have been the cause of the conflict they are going through.

Harold Kaija (PFF member)

Recently, you saw them (army) increasing their salaries; it wasn't Parliament doing so. Because there was a request in Parliament for money for intern doctors, it wasn't there. Teachers have been told to wait a little.