A month after the Ugandan Parliament passed the controversial Computer Misuse (Amendment) Bill, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has signed it into law.
On the surface, the law looks very harmless and protective of the public. But a closer look indicates it is a potential threat to free speech.
According to the bill, its objectives are “…to enhance the provisions on unauthorised access to information or data; to prohibit the sharing of any information relating to a child without authorisation from a parent or guardian; to prohibit the sending or sharing of information that promotes hate speech; to provide for the prohibition of sending or sharing false, malicious and unsolicited information…”
It’s an amendment to the 2011 Computer Misuse Act, and the proposed amendments only concern section 12.
The amendments will criminalise hacking another person’s electronic device and publishing information obtained from the hack. It also prohibits Ugandans from writing, sending or sharing information likely to ridicule, degrade or demean another person, tribe, religion, or gender.
Analysts said the problem is, countries like Uganda can and have used such laws to suppress free speech and digital rights.
Sociak critic Stella Nyanzi has, for instance, been jailed at least twice for “insulting” Ugandan president, Yoweri Museveni, on social media. Earlier this year, acclaimed novelist Kakwenza Rukirabashaija, was tortured after he made a series of tweets criticising Museveni and calling his son “plump” and “pigheaded”.
Many critics believe that the new Act will empower the government to infringe on civil and online rights.
Other critics like the Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA) also state that the Act is duplicitous, given that Uganda already has at least two different Acts protecting its citizens against online harassment and unlawful digital interception.
The bill comes at a crucial time when many trigger-happy African countries are facing tough social media restrictions. In Nigeria, there’s the NITDA Code of Practice Bill, and Kenya is presently battling its ICT Practitioners’ Bill.
