Computer misuse law challenged before regional court
Some of the members of ‘The Alternative DigiTalk’, an online TV, hold placards outside the Constitutional Court after filing the first petition challenging the Computer Misuse Act on October 19, 2022. PHOTO | ABUBAKER LUBOWA
The Computer Misuse Amended Act, 2022 has now been challenged before the East African Court of Justice, barely a week after President Museveni assented to it.
A democracy and human rights watchdog, the Legal Brains Trust, filed the petition before the East African Court of Justice in the First Instance Division on Monday.
The Attorney General has been listed as the sole respondent.
“The applicant (Legal Brains Trust) alleges that all the provisions of Uganda’s Computer Misuse (Amendment) Act passed by Parliament of Uganda on September 9, or thereabouts and signed into law by the President, on October 13, are an infringement of the principles of good governance enshrined in Articles 6 (d) and 7 (2) of the Treaty for the establishment of the East African Community, including adherence to the principles of democracy, rule of law, accountability, transparency, social justice, equal opportunities, as well as the recognition, promotion, protection and maintenance of universally accepted standards of human rights,” reads the petition in part.
According to Legal Brains Trust, the enactment of the impugned law was arbitrary initiated by a Member of Parliament, who was injudiciously and irrationally allowed to move a Private Member’s Bill that was containing clauses that are blatantly threatened to violate the principles of good governance enshrined in Articles of 6 (d) and 7 (2) of the Treaty.
The human rights watchdog further states that in enacting the said law, Uganda violated its duties under Articles 9, 13, and 25 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights, Articles 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Articles 29 (1)a, 38 and 43 of the Ugandan Constitution.
On Thursday last week, President Museveni assented to the Computer Misuse (Amendment) Act, 2022, triggering its operationalisation.
The law, among others, penalises a person to a fine of more than Shs9m or imprisonment of more than 10 years if they are found culpable of accessing, without authorisation, another person’s information, data, voice or video records.
Further, the law penalises those who invade children’s privacy and share their information without consent of their parents or guardians.
Legal Brains Trust now wants the regional court to make declarations that all provisions of the Computer Misuse (Amended) Act, 2022, infringe on the Treaty and should be invalidated.
They also want the court to direct government and its agents to desist from implementing any part of the controversial law.
The filing of the reference to the regional court comes at a time when several journalists, lawyers and human rights activists on Monday, petitioned the Constitutional Court, challenging the said law for being unconstitutional.
