I’m ready to present UPDF amendment Bill to MPs — minister Oboth

KAMPALA - The Minister of Defence and Veterans Affairs, Jacob Marksons Oboth, has said he is ready to present to Parliament the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) Amendment Bill, 2025, which seeks to try civilians in military courts.

“Yes, I’m ready to table the Bill before Parliament on Tuesday (May 13). If we can present it as the Executive and it is passed within one day, that is the work of Parliament,” he told New Vision on Monday, May 13.

The Bill is said to be 143 pages long with 84 clauses, but Oboth said in law, they don’t count pages.

“We look at the substance, not the form. How about if it was one page — wouldn’t it be a law? Those who are talking about pages are into the form, not the substance,” said the minister, who also serves as the MP for West Budama Central.

Nicholas Opiyo, who describes himself as a crusading human rights attorney, said the Bill is, by all means, a major overhaul of the UPDF Act.

“On top of most people’s minds is what it says about trials of civilians in military courts. The Bill uses the language of the Supreme Court in respect of trials of civilians — permits it only in ‘exceptional circumstances’,” he said on his social media platform, X, on Monday.

Opiyo also noted that the Bill does not define what is meant by exceptional circumstances, leaving it to be inferred from the grounds upon which a civilian or non-service person can be tried by the military courts.

Oboth said that since 2005, when the UPDF Act, Cap. 330, was enacted, the defence sector has undergone transformation both operationally and administratively.

“It is therefore imperative to substantially amend the Act to address the existing gaps and take into account new government policies,” he said.

On 31 January 2025, the Supreme Court stopped the trial of civilians in military courts and ordered that the cases be transferred to ordinary courts of law with competent jurisdiction.

The decision followed a 2021 Constitutional Court ruling, which indicated that the General Court Martial has no power to try civilians.