KAMPALA- The ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) Parliamentary Caucus has endorsed two key legislative proposals aimed at reforming the operations of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) and political party financing in the country.
The resolutions were reached during a caucus meeting held today May 19th 2025 at State House Entebbe which was chaired by President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni.
While addressing journalists shortly after the meeting, the Government Chief Whip, Hon Denis Hamson Obua announced the Caucus’s unanimous support for both the UPDF Amendment Bill and a Private Member’s Bill aimed at amending the Political Parties and Organisations Act.
According to the Chief Whip, the caucus resolved to fully back the UPDF Amendment Bill as presented to Parliament by the Minister of Defence and Veterans Affairs.
“Our unanimous endorsement aligns with an earlier Caucus resolution and is in fulfillment of a Supreme Court ruling that necessitated specific legislative adjustments to the UPDF Act,” said Obua.
The UPDF Amendment Bill seeks to amend the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces Act to streamline the composition of the organs and structures of the defence forces; to provide for the definition of service offence, court martial, military court and reserve force; to provide for the restructuring and reestablishment of the courts martial in defence forces in accordance with the Constitution and related matters
In a significant move aimed at restructuring political party funding, Hon Obua informed the journalists that the caucus has also thrown its weight behind a Private Member’s Bill that seeks to amend the Political Parties and Organisations Act.
The proposed amendment, introduced by Napak Woman Member of Parliament Hon Faith Nakut require all political parties to be members of the Inter-Party Organisation for Dialogue (IPOD) as a prerequisite for accessing government funding.
Currently, the Act provides government funding to political parties represented in Parliament under Section 14, however, Hon Nakut argued that the law does not require these parties to uphold democratic values such as tolerance, dialogue, and peaceful co-existence as conditions for accessing public resources.
