Tech crime ignites calls for proposed witness protection law revision
“The journey in pursuit of the Witness Protection Law has been a long one. It dates back to 2015 when the Uganda Law Reform Commission came up with the Witness Protection Law draft bill,” says Kamuli.
Participants take a group picture during a policy dialogue on the witness protection framework in Uganda held at Hotel Africana on Thursday, September 18, 2025. (Photos by Colleb Mugume)
By Rhyman Agaba
Journalists @New Vision
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To match the evolving digital crimes resulting from technological advancements, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) and a coalition of anti-corruption organisations have called for a speedy review of the Witness Protection Bill.
“The journey in pursuit of the Witness Protection Law has been a long one. It dates back to 2015 when the Uganda Law Reform Commission came up with the Witness Protection Law draft bill,” ODPP assistant director of public prosecutions Charles Richard Kamuli, who also heads the witness protection department at the government entity, says.
That Bill, he says, “unfortunately, did not go far. It somehow stagnated.”
However, in 2023, during Joan Kagezi's Memorial Lecture, ODPP hosted President Museveni as the guest of honour.
“We brought the concerns of Witness Protection to the President and, during that lecture, he directed the Attorney General to follow up on the Bill and make sure that it's brought to him. Currently, we are pursuing that directive by the President.”
Kamuli made these remarks on Thursday, September 18, 2025, at Hotel Africana in Kampala city during a policy dialogue on the witness protection framework in Uganda.
“As I speak now, there is a working committee in the Office of the Attorney General, which is chaired by the Deputy Solicitor General, Charles Ouma,” he said.
“And we have a working committee that is trying to review the Bill so that we can bring it back on the table, and we see how it progresses into a law.”
Charles Kamuli, Head of Witness Protection Unit in the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions remarking during the dialogue. 
Witnesses, he emphasised, form the foundation of Uganda’s criminal justice system.
“This is a draft Bill of 2015. You know crime has gone digital. We now have a lot of social media platforms where people are executing a lot of crime pornography, fraud, money laundering and identity theft.”
The dialogue organised by Anti-Corruption Coalition Uganda (ACCU) attracted over 30 government and civil society representatives, including lawyers, human rights advocates and Judicial officers, among others, from various parts of Uganda.
Marlon Agaba, the ACCU’s executive director, said witnesses are important in criminal cases and corruption cases.
“We realised that and did a study that we are also validating today that maps out the current framework for protection of witnesses,” he explained.
According to Agaba, the study maps out the different frameworks, challenges, and what needs to be done.
He noted that one of the challenges that Uganda faces as a nation is the absence of a witness protection law.
“So having a law and an institution in place would provide the framework, and the funding for protection of witnesses, including measures like providing police protection, having safe houses where people can be put for some time, this includes relocation to other jurisdictions that are safer,” Agaba told New Vision Online.
Christine Byiringiro, the ACCU’s programme manager, emphasised the need to prioritise witness protection in Uganda if corruption is to be reduced.
“It is indeed true that cases of corruption have sometimes been withdrawn or not even prosecuted well because of a lack or limited protection for key witnesses,” Byiringiro explained.
She recommended that Uganda enact a Witness Protection Law to support some of the measures by institutions.
Some of the other organisations present included: Karamoja Anti-Corruption Coalition, Legal Aid Service providers Network, Uganda Law Reform Commission, as well as Tororo Anti-Corruption Coalition, among others.