President Museveni has assented to the controversial Computer Misuse Bill to make it law in Uganda.
A statement from the Presidential Press Unit on Thursday indicated that the Computer Misuse (Amendment) Bill 2022 was among the four bills that the president signed into law.
Others 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 were awaiting President Museveni's assent," the statement said.
The law
Kampala Central MP, Muhammad Nsereko earlier this year tabled the Computer Misuse (Amendment) Bill 2022 before parliament for debate.
It was later debated and passed.
According to the law, recording of a person’s voice or video without permission, or unauthorised access to their personal information, and seeks to render a person convicted under the proposed law ineligible for public or elective office for a decade and imposes a fine of Shs15 million or imprisonment not exceeding 10 years, or both.
The law has ben criticised by members of the public but MP Nsereko recently defended it saying it will regulate social media and other media platforms especially when it comes to propagating fake news.
He said the law will make people who want to take up leadership positions responsible and discourage them from sending and publishing malicious, fake, and derogatory messages.
“We are not talking about responsible journalism; responsible journalists know their professional ethics. People know how to sue media houses or a journalist. There are laws protecting journalists and where and how they get their information,” Nsereko said.
