Uganda’s President Gen Yoweri Kaguta Tibuhaburwa Museveni has signed Kampala Central MP Muhammad Nsereko’s Computer Misuse (Amendment) Act, 2022 into law.
Nsereko’s bill was one of the four bills that the 78-year-old Museveni assented to on Thursday, October 13, 2022, according to a statement issued by the Presidential Press Unit (PPU) of State House’s Department of Press and Public Relations.
Other bills that Museveni passed into law are: the Physical Planners’ Registration Act, 2022; the Kampala Capital City (Amendment) Act, 2022; and the Mining and Minerals Act, 2022.
“The four bills were recently passed by the Parliament of Uganda and since then, they have been awaiting President Museveni’s signing,” noted PPU in its statement.
Nsereko’s bill has been criticized for seeking to suffocate freedom of expression in the country, with many critics predicting that the new piece of legislation will target opponents to President Museveni’s regime.
The critics have previously argued that there are already existing laws that could have handled the concerns raised by Nsereko and that there was no need for a new piece of legislation.
Now a law that under which people will be charged, the Computer Misuse (Amendment) Act, 2022 prescribes heavy fines and long term sentences for offenders.
