Opposition Walks Out In Protest as House Passes UPDF Bill

Opposition Members of Parliament have walked out of a plenary session, arguing they could not participate in what they described as a sham process.

Led by the Leader of the Opposition, Joel Ssenyonyi, the MPs questioned the government’s rush to amend the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) Act — a proposal that, among other provisions, allows for the trial of civilians in military courts.

The opposition also raised concerns over the amendment to the Political Parties and Organisations Act, which seeks to condition government funding to political parties on their participation in the Inter-Party Organisation for Dialogue (IPOD).

They criticized how the bill was being processed. Both bills were read for the first time in Parliament last week and referred to the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee for further scrutiny. 

In the case of the UPDF Act, the Defence and Internal Affairs Committee was also involved. Addressing Parliament before staging the walkout, Ssenyonyi said, “I was very hard-pressed together with my colleagues for us to sit here and participate in a sham process… When you bring a bill here, you should give it time for people to have their input, but for you, you are saying, you don’t want our input, we are going to pass the bill as is. That’s why you Madam Speaker, you didn’t rein in the committee to give adequate time to the stakeholders. That means this is pretentious, this is a sham. So, together with my friends, we are hard-pressed to participate in this sham process, so we shall leave you here to process your bill.”