Court has quashed the computer misuse act

By. T. Mwajuma Twaha Adams

Uganda’s constitutional court has declared section 25 of the computer misuse act 2011 null and void after a petition was filed by city top lawyers.

The Constitutional Court of Uganda has in the Andrew Karamagi & Another v Attorney General Constitutional Petition Case No. COA-00-CV-CPC-0005-2016 unanimously annulled Sect. 25 of the Computer Misuse Act of 2011 which provides for offensive communication.

According to section 25 of the computer misuse act 2011 which states that

“Any person who willfully and repeatedly uses electronic communication to disturb or attempts to disturb the peace, quiet or right of privacy of any person with no purpose of legitimate communication whether or not a conversation ensues commits a misdemeanor and is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding twenty four currency points or imprisonment not exceeding one year or both”

Several Ugandans more so using social media have been imprisoned using this section and have been charged for disturbing the peace of the president and notable among these is renown scholar Dr Stella Nyanzi who was caged at Luzira prisons for disturbing the peace of president Museveni.

While revealing this via his twitter handle, city Lawyer Eron Kiiza revealed that the constitutional court has unanimously annulled the said section and stopped it’s enforcement with immediate effect.

More research is being made to be sure of how true it is and the reasons following it’s annulment. We shall keep you posted about any development.

Computer misuse act started due to the way Ugandans were misusing the social media, people attacking each other especially the president and the first family.

This led to Facebook being swapped off in Uganda which up to now is not accessed by many Ugandans for about two years.

Many Ugandans who use Facebook installed VPN in their phones that allows them to use Facebook and it’s also illegal.