Introduction to the Public Order Management Act 2013

The Executive Director of Chapter Four Uganda, Mr. Nicholas Opiyo in a paper on tracing the path of this law, he provides a very clear background to this law.

He observes, “The bill was introduced in the backdrop of the ‘Mabira demonstrations’ in 2007 and ‘the Buganda riots’ of 2009, shelved and then reintroduced in the run up to the 2011 general elections……”

The ‘Walk to Work’ demonstrations further attracted brutal suppression by the Ugandan security machinery. Perhaps the constitutional case of Muwanga Kivumbi v Attorney General where the wide discretionary powers of the police to restrict public assemblies were declared unconstitutional was the final push to get government to fast track the passing of this regressive law in a bid to regrettably challenge the ruling of the court.