{"id":122734,"date":"2026-04-28T07:25:30","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T07:25:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/ssenyonyi-urges-parliament-to-reject-sovereignty-bill"},"modified":"2026-04-28T08:42:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T08:42:22","slug":"ssenyonyi-urges-parliament-to-reject-sovereignty-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/ssenyonyi-urges-parliament-to-reject-sovereignty-bill","title":{"rendered":"Ssenyonyi Urges Parliament to Reject Sovereignty Bill"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Uganda. <\/strong><\/span><b>The Leader of Opposition in Parliament, Joel Ssenyonyi, has urged lawmakers to reject the proposed Protection of National Sovereignty Bill, describing it as unconstitutional and harmful to citizens\u2019 rights.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Ssenyonyi made the submission before a joint committee of Parliament comprising defence and legal affairs, chaired by Wilson Kajwengye and Baka Mugabi.<\/p>\n<p>Appearing alongside shadow cabinet members including Muwada Nkunyingi, Asinansi Nyakato, and Charles Tebandeke, Ssenyonyi argued that the bill should be rejected in its entirety, citing what he called \u201cfatal constitutional defects\u201d and infringement on fundamental rights.<\/p>\n<p>He told the committee that the proposed law could undermine patriotism and unfairly target Ugandans, particularly those in the diaspora.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are numerous Ugandans who live in the diaspora and they remit over $2.5 billion annually to our country, yet this law risks deeming them foreigners. When did government cease to care about its citizens to the extent of regarding them as non-citizens?\u201d Ssenyonyi said.<\/p>\n<p>He further argued that many Ugandans have been forced into exile due to political persecution but have not renounced their citizenship.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cConsider political leaders born in Uganda, registered voters and duly elected leaders who are forced into exile. Under this law, once they cross the border to save their lives, they risk being classified as foreigners,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Ssenyonyi also warned that the bill could weaken multiparty democracy by restricting political party financing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBy placing a cap on \u2018foreign\u2019 money, which includes diaspora remittances, the Minister of Internal Affairs is given excessive control over opposition party funding. This creates room for abuse if approval is withheld,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>He further claimed that aspects of the bill mirror restrictive foreign legislation, citing Russia\u2019s \u201cforeign agent\u201d framework, which he said has been used to suppress civil society and opposition voices.<\/p>\n<p>According to Ssenyonyi, the proposed law could also negatively affect non-governmental organisations, humanitarian work, and the broader economy by discouraging foreign investment and increasing unemployment.<\/p>\n<p>The joint committee is expected to continue receiving submissions from opposition parties, civil society organisations, and other stakeholders before compiling its report on the bill.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Uganda<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Uganda. The Leader of Opposition in Parliament, Joel Ssenyonyi, has urged lawmakers to reject the proposed Protection of National Sovereignty Bill, describing it as unconstitutional and harmful to citizens\u2019 rights. Ssenyonyi made the submission before a joint committee of Parliament comprising defence and legal affairs, chaired by Wilson Kajwengye and Baka Mugabi. Appearing [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":122733,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[234],"class_list":["post-122734","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-uganda"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Ssenyonyi Urges Parliament to Reject Sovereignty Bill - Uganda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Leader of Opposition in Parliament, Joel Ssenyonyi, has urged lawmakers to reject the proposed Protection of Nati ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/ssenyonyi-urges-parliament-to-reject-sovereignty-bill\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ssenyonyi Urges Parliament to Reject Sovereignty Bill\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Leader of Opposition in Parliament, Joel Ssenyonyi, has urged lawmakers to reject the proposed Protection of Nati ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/ssenyonyi-urges-parliament-to-reject-sovereignty-bill\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Uganda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-28T07:25:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-28T08:42:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2026\/04\/sm_1777352917.473868.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/ssenyonyi-urges-parliament-to-reject-sovereignty-bill#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/ssenyonyi-urges-parliament-to-reject-sovereignty-bill\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Ssenyonyi Urges Parliament to Reject Sovereignty Bill\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-28T07:25:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-28T08:42:22+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/ssenyonyi-urges-parliament-to-reject-sovereignty-bill\"},\"wordCount\":359,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/ssenyonyi-urges-parliament-to-reject-sovereignty-bill#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2026\/04\/sm_1777352917.473868.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"uganda\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/ssenyonyi-urges-parliament-to-reject-sovereignty-bill#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/ssenyonyi-urges-parliament-to-reject-sovereignty-bill\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/ssenyonyi-urges-parliament-to-reject-sovereignty-bill\",\"name\":\"Ssenyonyi Urges Parliament to Reject Sovereignty Bill - 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