The Justice Forum (JEEMA) has called on Parliament to withdraw the proposed Sovereignty Bill, arguing that it undermines civil liberties and fails to address Uganda’s long-standing constitutional obligations on citizen preparedness.
Speaking to the media at the party headquarters in Kampala,the party spokesperson Swaib Kaggwa Nsereko said the Bill does not strengthen sovereignty but instead risks criminalising citizens, including members of the diaspora.
“The Bill does not protect Uganda’s sovereignty. It threatens civil liberties, criminalizes the diaspora with billions as fine, and distracts from real security gaps,” Nsereko said.
He added that “real sovereignty is not built by policing citizens. It is built by preparing them.”
JEEMA criticised what it called the continued neglect of Article 17(2) of the 1995 Constitution, which provides for compulsory military training for able-bodied citizens when called upon to defend the country.
“For over 30 years, Article 17(2) has been deliberately redundant,” Nsereko said, adding that government has failed to establish a national civic-military training programme despite the constitutional requirement.
The party argued that concerns over external influence and financial flows should be addressed through civic education rather than restrictions.
“If there’s genuine fear of external money, the answer is not to ban money. The answer is to build citizens so grounded in constitutional values so that their loyalty cannot be bought,” Nsereko said.
JEEMA has instead proposed a National Civic Defence Programme focusing on constitutional literacy, disaster response, cyber security, first aid, and basic defence skills, to be implemented at community level and extended to Ugandans in the diaspora through embassies.
The party also called for strict parliamentary oversight of any such programme, insisting that sovereignty should be based on “a prepared citizenry, not a policed citizenry.”
