By Aggrey Baba
David Lewis Rubongoya, the National Unity Platform (NUP) Secretary General, has lashed out at Parliament of Uganda over what he termed as a deliberate and unfair move to ambush the party with an urgent meeting on the Uganda Peoples’ Defense Forces (Amendment) Bill, 2025.
In a statement issued Wednesday afternoon, Rubongoya expressed dismay at receiving an invitation just yesterday, summoning him to appear before the Committee on Defense and Internal Affairs today (Wednesday) at 9:00am to present the party’s position on the Bill.
“Very unfortunate to see the Parliament of Uganda behave in this manner,” Rubongoya said, before adding that this morning, they received an invitation to appear and give their views on the UPDF Amendment Bill. “The invitation was for today at 9:00am,” he said
The letter, dated May 13, 2025, and marked URGENT, was sent by the Clerk to Parliament, directing NUP to attend the session with 20 copies of its presentation. But according to Rubongoya, the short notice was a clear attempt to stifle meaningful participation.
To make matters worse, he noted that a public call for submissions had appeared in newspapers on the same day the letter was sent, requiring Ugandans to submit their views by close of business.
“The link that was provided through which people would access the law wasn’t working,” he said, adding that he had tried to check last evening, and the website was off.
He also accused the lawmaking-house of rushing the process in order to pass what he described as an unconstitutional law. “You can see how eager they are to pass this unconstitutional law even if it means violating every law in the book.”
The party is particularly concerned about provisions in the Bill that they say would illegally return civilians to military courts, a practice NUP has consistently opposed. “Our members have been gravely persecuted through the military courts,” Rubongoya said. “For whatever it may be worth, we want to be on record about our strong objection.”
The Kavule based party has formally responded to Parliament, asking for sufficient time to study the Bill and prepare a comprehensive response.
“This is a very problematic law. We will not be rushed,” Rubongoya emphasized. The Bill was first introduced in May 2024 and has since been under committee review. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
