Culprits of computer misuse not off the hook yet, says Attorney General

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Ugandan Attorney General Kiryowa Kiwanuka has said culprits of computer misuse are not yet off the hook after the Constitutional Court recently struck down some sections of the Computer Misuse Act.

“I can only call upon the general public not to misuse these facilities because there is sufficient law even now. It may not be as punitive as what we had in the Computer Misuse Act, but there is punishment for those [offences] that will be committed,” he said.

Kiryowa, who is the chief government legal adviser, made the call on Wednesday (April 1) during Parliament’s plenary session, during which MPs presented matters of national importance affecting various parts of the country.

He acknowledged that on March 17, 2026, the Constitutional Court indeed struck down sections 11, 23, 26, 28 and 29 of the Act for lack of quorum but said the rest of the law was still good and enforceable.

“Of course, the purpose of the amendment that was made was to clarify and strengthen certain provisions of the law. In fact, in some instances, the provisions of the law existed, but they had just weaker penalties, but I think that is being done,” Kiryowa said.

He informed the session that was chaired by Speaker Anita Among that they have already advised their prosecutorial agencies to cease using those annulled provisions of the law.

“We have advised our prosecutorial agencies to cease using those provisions of the law but continue to use the rest of the law as it is, and I think there is sufficient law to regulate the use of such material.”

The Attorney General told the House that the Government was processing the Computer Misuse (Amendment) Act in the Ministry of ICT for proper enactment.

“We are going to bring it back to the House for proper enactment at the appropriate time,” he said.

President Yoweri Museveni signed the Act into law in October 2022, introducing stringent penalties for online activities deemed illegal.

The punishment for a convicted person is a fine of sh15 million (approximately 750 currency points), a seven-year jail term, or both.

Court rules

Justice Irene Mulyagonja led a panel of five judges that poked holes in several provisions of the law that was tabled in Parliament by outgoing Kampala Central MP, Muhammad Nsereko, in July 2022, and passed barely two months later.

This followed consolidated constitutional petitions by several human rights defenders and other stakeholders who argued that several sections of the law infringed on freedoms of speech and expression. 

The court said several provisions of the law were passed by parliament without the required quorum.

“Clearly, there is no evidence in the Hansard that there was any concern about whether the Members in the House… constituted the requisite quorum of one third of Members entitled to vote,” it noted.

These provisions include Section 11 that criminalised unauthorised access, interception of data, or voice/video recording of another person; Section 23 that criminalised unauthorised sharing or transmission of any information about a child, and Section 26 that criminalised sharing computer-based information likely to ridicule, degrade, or demean a person, or promote hostility based on tribe, religion, or gender.

Others are; Section 27 that criminalized sending or sharing unsolicited information, unless it was in the public interest; Section 28 that criminalized sending or sharing “malicious information” relating to another person; Section 29 that prohibited the “misuse of social media” by sharing prohibited information under a disguised or false identity as well as Sections 162 and 163 of the Penal Code Act (criminal libel) for being vague and ambiguous.