EDITOR STEPHEN OUMA BWIRE.
Email: oumastephen@hotmail.com, stephen.ouma5@gmail.com
Uganda Parliament this month passed the Computer Misuse (Amendment) Bill, 2022. If the bill is assented to by the President, the new law will among others enhance the protection of children and prohibit the sending or sharing of information that promotes hatred.
But the purpose of legislation is to cure mischief, halt unauthorised access to data, prohibit sending or sharing false, malicious, and unsolicited information.
The Bill also seeks to bar individuals who have been convicted of the offences relating to this Bill from holding public offices or losing it for those already in office. Hon. Mohammed Nsereko, mover of the bill, said for likes and views on social media sites, unscrupulous individuals blackmail innocents, sometimes for money, a vice he said must be nipped in the bud. Clause 2 of the Bill seeks to punish individuals who “without authorisation, accesses, intercepts another person’s data or information, voice or records another person”, with a fine of Ushs15 million or up to 10 years in jail or both punishments.
Sending and sharing data about children without the authorisation of their parents or guardians on a computer and by extension social media, will become an offense punishable by seven years jail term, Ushs15m in fines or both, should clause 3 of the Bill be enacted into law.
Sending unsolicited messages to computer users will be criminalised under clause 4 of the Bill, an offence that Nsereko proposes should be punished by a seven-year jail term, a fine of Uhs15m or both imprisonment and fine.
Observers say this is a duplication of legislation since the concerns are already covered by existing legal framework.
The Data Protection and Privacy Act already bars unauthorised access to personal information, provides for lawful means for collecting, storing, and the obligation to put in place security measures against unauthorised access to personal information.
As if that is not enough the Data Protection and Privacy Act provides for offences for such unauthorised access to personal information and the penalty is already imposed
Journalists are among Ugandans prosecuted under the Computer Misuse Act, 2011 and whose complainants have been mainly politicians.
It is inconceivable how Ugandans will enjoy their constitutional rights as enshrined under article 29 that gurantees Freedom of Expression and Article 41 that gurantees right to Access to Information moreover in a dynamic digital era.
The new legislation is coming at a time when corruption is growing almost to unmanageble levels and any law that threatens those who expose ills in society will instead condon corruption and human rights violations.
Members of the media who use the digital or online platforms from the traditional media to social media, face the biggest threats which will hamper adversely on their work.
Practising journalists esp;ecially those who specialize in investigative news reporting dealing with “perishable” information will be the endangered species.
Due to the threats and clamp down on “Freedom of Expression” and ” Press Freedom” , all ills in society will thrive hence corruption and gross human rights violations. will prevail. There is a likelihood of governance and accountability structures being shuttered or bogged down as the media is completely blacked out.
In the long run this trend is being seen as a systematic move to stifle voices of dissent, curtail freedom of expression, suppress the right to access to information and all together muzzle media Freedom.
President Museveni should not assent to the draconian Computer Misuse (Amendment) Bill, 2022■
