Attorney General Kiryowa Kiwanuka has admitted that there was overzealousness as government lawyers drafted the controversial Sovereignty bill but disclosed that parliament will be guided by public opinion presented before both the Committee on Legal and Parliamentary Affairs and the Parliamentary Committee on Defence and Internal Affairs.
He insists that the said bill is being brought for the good of the country by safeguarding its independence and protecting its citizens from foreign influence.
He added that such a bill is in practice even in other developed countries.
The Chief Government legal officer said that him and other government officials are not bothered with the ongoing criticism the bill is receiving from members of the Civil Society and the opposition because they have been benefiting from the foreign influence which government is trying to control.
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He said that government is prepared to make some changes in the bill because they have also realised that in drafting it, they went overboard especially on punishing those caught breaking it.
He however defended his team insisting it was not their mistake because every time they are directed to draft any law, their work is to think about what is right and bring it to the public so that they also to add their opinion before it is passed by parliament.
However, Kiwanuka assured Ugandans that the government is not ready to abandoned the bill as many wish because their mission is to have it passed.
The bill has met a lot of resistance from Civil Societies, opposition political parties, religious leaders and some government institutions.
They claim that the bill is going to economically and socially isolate Ugandans from the world.
They advised government to use the existing laws to fight foreign influence in the country.
Jinja South East Member of Parliament Paul Mwiru claims that the bill is going to fuel corruption among government officials who are going to use their offices to ask for kickbacks from those who are getting money from abroad.
BILL WILL BRING ECONOMIC DISASTER – BoU GOVERNOR
Appearing before Parliament today, Bank of Uganda Governor Michael Atingi-Ego warned that the potential of the Protection of Sovereignty Bill 2026 to destabilize Uganda’s balance of payments is the Central Bank’s primary concern.
“Chairman, a country without reserves is not sovereign. The potential of this Bill to destabilize Uganda’s Balance of Payments is our primary concern as a central bank. For example, last financial year the overall balance of payment surplus was USD 1.5 billion. That’s how we were able to increase our reserve coverage by USD 1.5 billion. Today as we speak our reserves are close to USD 6 billion. Why? Because these inflows have been coming in. The moment you tamper with these inflows here, we risk running down our reserves, and that is economic disaster for a country.” Governor Atingi-Ego said.
“The mandate of BoU is to promote price stability and a sound financial system. What is the impact of this Bill on price stability if it is passed the way it is? Because of the depreciation of the currency that is likely to occur as an unintended consequence of this Bill, we are likely to have a depreciated currency and the pass-through of imported items into domestic prices is going to raise prices significantly. So, our inflation is going to increase via the depreciation of the exchange rate. That means that we will need to either tighten monetary policy further if we are going to contain inflation, or we allow inflation to go beyond the 5% target if we don’t want to raise interest rates. That’s what we will have to grapple with. This inflation of 3% we have been enjoying is likely to be compromised through currency depreciation,” Governor Atingi-Ego added.
