The ruling National Resistance Movement again used power of its numbers to easily sail through the controversial Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) Amendment Bill, 2025, through the legislature on Tuesday May 20,2025.
The House presided over by Speaker of Parliament, Annet Anita Among easily sailed through despite protests from the opposition and some of the member of the Committees that scrutinized it.
Some MPS complained that they and the members of the public had not been given ample time to deliberate on the Bill.
Legislator like Erute East MP, Jonathan Odur who presented a minority report about the Bill warned of defects including the violation of the January 31st Supreme Court Ruling, the ruling of the Constitutional Court as well as the provisions of the 1995 Constitution.
However Odur’s voice together with that of his Kioga East counterpart Moses Okot seem to have fallen on deaf ears because the majority NRM legislature was determined to pass it.
Odur warned the parliament that it would be violating article 92 of the Constitution if it went ahead to pass the Bill as suggested by the government.
Article 92 of the Uganda Constitution prohibits Parliament from enacting laws that would alter or overturn court decisions. This means Parliament cannot pass laws that directly contradict or overturn specific judgments in individual cases.
The principle behind this provision is to protect the independence of the judiciary and ensure that legislative actions do not interfere with judicial outcomes.
The passing of the bill comes a day after the NRM parliamentary cause met in a Entebbe and agreed to have it passed as the current session comes to the end.
Jonathan Odur went on to say that there is no legal basis to provide for the trial of civilians in the military courts as decided by the constitutional Court and Supreme Court (the highest courts in Uganda).
Legislators said the passing of the bill in almost the same way as it was presented leads question the NRM government’s commitment to constitutionalism and the rule of law.
Jonathan Odur told Journalists at parliament that rushing to pass new laws without proper scrutiny would make the Parliament to repeat past mistakes.
The Bill was tabled by the Defence and Veteran Affairs Minister, Jacob Oboth Oboth almost a week ago.
It has taken one the shortest time to be processed at the Committee level as well as the floor of parliament.
According to Oboth, the 144-page bill was, in part, influenced by the Supreme Court decision of January 31, 2025, which annulled several sections of the UPDF Act that permitted the prosecution of civilians in military courts.
Kampala Central MP Muhammad Nsereko asked House to delete Clause 30 of the Bill, says civilians should not be tried in military courts. His request was out rightly defeated by the majority vote by NRM MPS.
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