By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Uganda’s parliament passed legislation to curb what it termed foreign influence after an amendment that proposed restrictions on funding from abroad, which the central bank governor warned could lead to “economic disaster”.
A provision of the law requiring any Ugandan receiving money from abroad to register as a foreign agent and disclose incoming funds was amended to apply only to people receiving funds for political purposes that advance foreign interests.
The proposed piece of legislation titled, “The Protection of Sovereignty Bill”, was adopted on Tuesday and is awaiting presidential assent to take effect.
President Yoweri Museveni, who has been in power since 1986, and allies in the ruling party have repeatedly alleged foreign influence in Uganda, accusing domestic political rivals of receiving funding from abroad and pushing foreign agendas such as LGBTQ rights.
Several Ugandan opposition parties have traditionally received some of their funding from outside the country.
The law, which recommends for penalties of up to 10 years in prison for violations of its terms, bans anyone working on behalf of foreign interests from developing or implementing policy without the approval of the government.
It also criminalises the promotion of the “interests of a foreigner against the interests of Uganda”.
Rights groups have said that such broad language would allow the government to criminalise just about any form of political opposition.
The government has accused critics of exaggerating the impact of the bill.
The amendment followed concern from economic actors. The Central Bank Governor Michael Atingi-Ego had warned last week that the legislation would diminish financial flows into the country and risk running down foreign exchange reserves – a situation he called “economic disaster for our country”.
Remittances from Ugandans living abroad are an important source of foreign exchange for the east Africa nation.
The World Bank also said last month that the bill could expose to criminal liability a broad range of its “routine development activities”, including meetings in which alternative policy ideas are discussed.
