The licensing, operation, and funding of LGBTQ groups and other human rights organizations in Uganda will now be subject to strict government scrutiny.
President Yoweri Museveni on July 16 signed the Non-Governmental Organisations (Amendment) Act 2024. The law disbands Uganda’s National NGO Bureau, which regulated non-governmental organisations. The new law places their activities under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Interior.
President Museveni gave his assent to the bill after parliament passed it in April, with lawmakers accusing it of obstructing the NGO Bureau’s monitoring of NGO activities that violate Ugandan law, such as promoting homosexuality.
“I ask all members of parliament to be very careful when they talk about NGOs,” Speaker Anita Amon said during a parliamentary debate. “NGOs are a place where money is laundered into the country and that’s why gay money comes into the country.”
The lawmakers noted that allowing taxpayer-funded NGO secretariats to operate independently without strict state oversight risks losing Uganda’s national objective of protecting its citizens from undesirable foreign practices by giving “fake funds” to LGBTQ rights groups.
“We are aware that there are NGOs whose activities and practices are against our values and culture, but we believe that the police and other agencies have dealt with such other NGOs,” said Councillor Sarah Opendi, a vocal opponent of LGBTQ rights.
They also supported the move to put the NGO department under the supervision of the Ministry of Public Security as “important,” and criticized the ministry for being bureaucratic in obtaining permits and information, but the NGO regulator has not granted a permit to a pro-gay LGBTQ lobby group.
In August 2022, it suspended Sexual Minorities Uganda, an organisation fighting discrimination against LGBTQ people in the country, because neither the Bureau of NGOs nor the Uganda Registration Services had registered the organisation, as required by Ugandan law. The decision came despite SMUG’s attempt to reserve the name with the Uganda Registration Services in 2012 to incorporate, only to be rejected for being “undesirable”.
In suspending SMUG, the Bureau of NGOs noted that the group had no physical office or location and that its representatives were unwilling to disclose its location, despite having affiliations with the Ministry of Health, the Uganda Human Rights Commission, and the Uganda Police Force.
However, the government agency that partnered with SMUG, the NGO Bureau, was unaware that SMUG was operating illegally.
After the NGO Bureau took steps to “summarily suspend” SMUG’s activities, the group appealed the decision in lower courts and then in the Court of Appeal. SMUG lost both cases.
SMUG Executive Director Frank Mugisha petitioned the Supreme Court on Thursday to overturn the Court of Appeal ruling against SMUG, two days after President Museveni signed the NGOs Act.
“Today, we have filed a lawsuit in the Supreme Court of Uganda to challenge the Court of Appeal’s decision to refuse to register sexual minorities in Uganda,” Mugisha said.
Mugisha, along with two other LGBTQ activists, Dennis Wamala and Senfuka Joanita Walley, argue that the Court of Appeal judges in their March 12 ruling erred in applying principles of public morality to interpret the Constitution and Human Rights Act.
“The learned judges of the Court of Appeal have erred in holding that the proposed objective of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) is a criminal offence and prohibited by Section 145 of the Penal Code, but this is a matter of law,” the Supreme Court petition states.
The three appellants also argue that the Court of Appeal judge erred in holding that SMUG’s name was “undesirable” and that the NGO Bureau had the power under the Companies Act to refuse registration in the “public interest.” They also argue that the Court of Appeal judge erred in dismissing their appeal and want the Supreme Court to allow them to fully consider their petition.
“It is proposed to seek an order from the Supreme Court to set aside the judgment and order of the Court of Appeal and substitute an order of this Court,” the petition stated.
Activists believe the decision by the Bureau of NGOs and the Uganda Registration Service to refuse to register SMUG is a violation of their rights to freedom of expression and freedom of association.
The appeal to the Supreme Court against the Court of Appeal’s ruling follows an appeal against a Constitutional Court ruling that upheld the Anti-Homosexuality Act signed by President Museveni in May 2023. Mugisha is one of 22 activists who petitioned the Supreme Court on July 11 to overturn the Constitutional Court ruling.
