There are growing fears of erosion of civil liberties and entrenchment of political intolerance in Uganda as the government pushes a new law that seeks to tighten its grip on civil society ahead of the 2016 General Election.

The Non-Governmental Organisations Registration (Amendment) Bill 2013 was drafted last September by the Ministry of Internal Affairs ostensibly to close loopholes in the current NGO Registration Act. It is before the Cabinet.

Expand government’s powers

The Bill seeks to expand the government’s powers to monitor NGOs, which it categorises as foreign, national and local, defining the mandate of each. If passed, it will create NGO monitoring committees from the national to the sub-county level. Currently, there is only the National Monitoring Committee.

The proposed law also seeks to empower the national and district monitoring committees to dissolve an NGO that does not comply with the law. NGO employees who violate sections of the law will be liable to prison terms of up to eight years.

According to the Bill, NGOs must apply to carry out research and foreign organisations must stay away from local politics.

Internal Affairs Minister Gen Aronda Nyakairima said the proposed law is in response to some NGOs’ “subversive methods of work and activities that undermine accountability and transparency in the sector.”

Civil society lobbies have criticised the Bill, saying it targets NGOs said to “promote” homosexuality. They further say it will contract the space and rights of sexual minority groups.

Human-rights activists said the Bill, if passed, will entrench oppression and greatly limit the operations of NGOs.

“I think the Bill has nothing or little to do with the institutionalisation of the NGO Board but everything to do with the paranoia of government and its desire to control and monitor virtually all aspects of life,” said Crispy Kaheru, co-ordinator of Citizens’ Coalition for Electoral Democracy in Uganda (CCEDU).

Human Rights Watch researcher Maria Burnett said organisations working on human rights, land rights, oil revenue transparency and other “sensitive issues” are the main targets of the proposed law as they are viewed as “a threat to the regime’s interests.”

Intelligence agencies will be legally mandated to monitor civil society while the President’s Office has a say in reviewing requests to carry out research through various government departments.

The Bill bears out predictions by HRW in a report, Curtailing Criticism, released last year. The report noted that there was evidence of growing self-censorship by NGOs out of fear of reprisals and that the value of a vibrant civil society in deepening democracy was being progressively eroded. 

“If your research raises the red flag about people in power in this country and how they are getting money out of this country, you are at serious risk,” said Ms Burnett. “If you preach human rights, you are anti-development, an economic saboteur.

“You are not going to be able to talk about land, oil and good governance.”

She added that aspects of the proposed law show the government’s increased intolerance on the freedoms of expression and association for NGOs working on land, transparency in the oil sector, good governance and the rights of LGBTIs. NGOs working in these areas have faced threats and intimidation over the past few years, she added.

Criminalising homosexuality

The Bill comes two months after Uganda passed a law criminalising homosexuality.

READ: Museveni leads rally backing new anti-gay law

Though the country has come under intense pressure to repeal the law and a number of donors have cut aid as a result of its passing, the government has maintained its stand.

NGO representatives voiced concerns about their ability to operate and carry out advocacy on controversial matters as well as protect their employees.

“The spirit of the proposed law seems to be that NGOs are ‘subversive’ and need to be constantly kept under state surveillance,” Mr Kaheru, whose CCEDU champions electoral reforms, told The EastAfrican. “This is not just a generic assumption; it also holds a number of inaccurate connotations.”