UPDF Amendment Bill: NUP to appear before Parliament committee

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The National Unity Platform (NUP) party has accepted the Parliament invitation to appear before a committee scrutinising the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) Amendment Bill, 2025, that seeks to, among other things, try civilians in military courts.

NUP secretary general David Lewis Rubongoya said on Wednesday (May 14) that their members have been “gravely persecuted” through the military courts.

“For whatever worth it may have, we want to be on record about our strong objection,” he posted on X, formerly Twitter.

On Tuesday (May 13, 2025), the Office of the Clerk to Parliament invited Rubongoya for a meeting with the committee on defence and internal affairs to consider the Bill after the proposed law had been read for the first time in the plenary session.

According to the invitation letter signed by Emmanual Opio for the Clerk to Parliament, Adolf Mwesige, Rubongoya was supposed to appear on Wednesday (May 14) at 9:00am to present his views on the Bill and address any other matters that may arise.

“Please come along with 20 copies of your presentation and send a soft copy to the undersigned at eopio@parliament.go.ug before the meeting date…” the letter reads in part.

In his X post, Rubongoya said: “Well, we wrote back asking for ample time to prepare our response to this very problematic law that seeks to illegally take civilians back to military courts.”

The Bill was tabled before Parliament by defence minister Jacob Marksons Oboth and referred to the committee of defence and that of legal for scrutiny and report back.

Oboth argues 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 January 31, 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.