Ugandan Lawmakers Pass Bill to Try Civilians Before Military Courts, Defying Concern and Criticism

Ugandan opposition leader and four-time presidential candidate Kizza Besigye, stands in the dock at the Makindye Martial Court in Kampala, Uganda Wednesday, Nov. 20. 2024. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda, File)

By RODNEY MUHUMUZA

3:56 PM EDT, May 20, 2025

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Ugandan lawmakers on Tuesday passed a government-backed bill to authorize civilian trials in military courts, defying widespread criticism by opposition figures and others who called it a backward gesture.

The contentious legislation was introduced earlier this year after the Supreme Court ruled that civilians can’t be court-martialed, questioning the competence of untrained military officers to dispense justice.

The bill states that civilians can be court-martialed if their alleged offenses are “in support of or in association with persons subject to military law.” It also says that presiding officers must be qualified in law.

But opposition figures, rights activists and others insist such legislation is an anti-democratic effort as the east African country heads into elections scheduled for 2026. They say the bill is a danger to everyone who opposes President Yoweri Museveni, an authoritarian leader who has held power in the east African country since 1986.

Some members of the opposition walked out of the parliamentary chamber before the bill was passed, protesting what they said was an illegality.

The legislation is an attempt to “unconstitutionally grant judicial powers reserved for superior courts to subordinate military courts that have specialized jurisdiction to handle only military disciplinary offenses,” the Uganda-based rights group Chapter Four said in a statement.

Museveni is expected to sign the bill within days. The president and his son, army commander Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, had condemned the Supreme Court’s decision to effectively disband court-martials. Days after that ruling, government officials launched the process of introducing legislation to keep military courts active.

Museveni said in a statement following the court’s decision that “the country is not governed by the judges.” He is expected to run again in polls set for January 2026.

Many Ugandans expect an unpredictable political transition because the 80-year-old Museveni has no obvious successor within the ranks of the ruling National Resistance Movement party.

Some observers fear that in future he may step aside in favor of Kainerugaba in a bloodless coup. Kainerugaba has asserted his wish to succeed his father as president.

A long-time opposition leader, Kizza Besigye, has been jailed since November over alleged treason charges his lawyers say are politically motivated. Besigye, a qualified physician who retired from Uganda’s military at the rank of colonel, is a former president of the Forum for Democratic Change party, for many years Uganda’s most prominent opposition group.

Uganda has never witnessed a peaceful transfer of political power since independence from the British in 1962.