Civic Space & a Call to Community Activism

The Civil Society in Uganda is under continuous attack from government that has time and again accused CSOs in the country for supporting the opposition and participating in criminal activities among others. The amendment of the NGO Act 2016 which can to force of March 14, 2016 with the assent of the President, has since had dire implications on the implementation of mandate of various NGOs.

In 2016 NGO Act, whereas is intended to provide a conducive, implementation of sections this act have proved more detrimental to the work of NGOs and other CSOs in Uganda. Particularly one section undoes the potentially NGO friendly act, that is section 44, which imposes special obligations on CSOs including being barred from doing anything deemed prejudicial to the security of Uganda, ‘the interests of Uganda and the dignity of Ugandans’. This provision is rather vague and in most part, can be used against CSOs because they do not specify or give any descriptive explanation of what constitutes the sentence above. Section 40(1) (d) lays CSOs bare at the heart of facing criminal prosecution that government may construe as against the interests of Uganda and the dignity of Uganda or as prejudicial to the security of the country.

To date, several CSOs have suffered the wrath of these provisions including Action Aid and the Great Lakes Institute for Strategic Studies, whose offices were ransacked and raided by security operatives in 2017 under the suspicion of being used for elicit transfer of funds for illegal activities; conveniently during the heated debate around the removal of the age limit cap. In another wave of attacks against the civic space in 2020, renowned Human Rights Lawyer Nicholas Opiyo and four of his colleagues were arrested in a restaurant in Kampala on allegations of money laundering and the closure of the bank accounts of Uganda Women’s Network, the Uganda National NGO Forum, accused also of money laundering. Several journalists have also come under attack from armed forces for their coverage of opposition politicians in the 2021 electoral race.

In August 2019, the Financial Intelligence Authority (FIA) asked Equity Bank for the account details of 13 non-governmental organisations to establish the source of their funding. The organisations included Action Aid International Uganda, Citizens’ Coalition for Electoral Democracy in Uganda, Alliance for Campaign Finance Monitoring, Anti-Corruption Coalition Uganda, National Non-Governmental Organisation Forum, Human Rights Network Uganda, National Democratic Institute, and Great Lakes Institute for Strategic Studies. Others were Foundation for Human Rights Initiative, Democratic Governance Facility, Kick Corruption out of Uganda, National Association of Professional Environmentalists, and the African Institute for Energy Governance. 

With the several attacks against the operation of CSOs in Uganda thus the shrinking of the civic space, Feminature Uganda believes that community engagements more than ever are central to ensuring that the civic rights of Ugandans are upheld. Community activism is paramount to counter attacks on civic space in the country. Whereas the legal framework may not be favour duly registered CSOs to undertake their duties, the Constitution gives every Ugandan the duty and right to enjoy their civic rights in legal ways. This will ensure that the public takes up individual responsibility for their communities to ensure good governance and democracy in the country.