NGOs, Students, Businessmen Ask Gov’t to Withdraw Sovereignty Bill

broad coalition of NGOs, students, businessmen, market women, coffee farmers, artistes, faith leaders and ordinary citizens has demanded the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of the Protection of Sovereignty Bill, 2026, warning that the draft law threatens Uganda’s Constitution, economy and citizens’ freedoms.

The joint press statement was read Thursday by former Ethics and Integrity Minister Maria Matembe and Charles Kazooba, Executive Director of the Center for African Affairs and Diplomatic Studies.

The group said the Bill, officially presented as protection against foreign interference, “adds no value” because Uganda already has the Anti-Money Laundering Act, Anti-Terrorism Act and other national security laws. Instead, it “seeks to overthrow the spirit of the 1995 Constitution, shifting power away from the people and consolidating it within unchecked executive agencies.”

Among its most controversial provisions, the Bill redefines a “foreigner” to include any person “residing outside Uganda.” This, the statement warned, amounts to “de facto stripping of citizenship” for over a million Ugandans in the diaspora, contradicting Article 15 of the Constitution and dual-citizenship laws.

It also grants the Minister for Internal Affairs power under Clauses 29 and 30 to create new criminal offences and amend penalties through statutory instruments, bypassing Parliament – a move the coalition said violates Article 1 of the Constitution.

Privacy is under direct attack, the statement said. Clause 28 allows authorised officers to conduct warrantless inspections of any “premises,” including private family homes, suspected of “foreign agent” activity. This directly assaults the right to privacy guaranteed under Article 27.

Economically, Clauses 14 and 15 criminalise normal business financing and joint ventures involving foreign capital, while diaspora remittances – worth $2.5 billion annually – risk being treated as suspicious “foreign agent” activity. The statement warned this would trigger “an immediate domestic welfare crisis,” collapse local employment in construction, farming and housing, and scare away foreign direct investment.

Artistes and creatives face a “creative lockdown,” with income from Spotify, YouTube and international deals potentially branding them foreign agents liable to 20-year jail terms or UGX 2 billion fines. Faith-based organisations, which provide over 40 percent of Uganda’s healthcare and education, could be labelled foreign agents for accepting missionary support or diaspora tithes, with churches and mosques facing warrantless searches.

The coalition rejected government claims that the Bill mirrors UK, Canadian or US models. “The actual provisions more closely align with restrictive models seen in Nicaragua and Russia,” the statement declared.

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In a direct appeal, the group told government: “We demand the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of the Protection of Sovereignty Bill, 2026, in its entirety. It is a redundant piece of legislation that serves only to undermine the economic and social fabric of our nation.”

They urged Parliament to reject the Bill, the media to simplify its dangers for the public, the diaspora to lobby internationally, the private sector to issue joint memoranda, and citizens to petition their MPs.

“Uganda’s sovereignty belongs to the people, not state agencies!” the statement concluded.