Chapter 6

TREASON AND OFFENCES AGAINST THE STATE.

25. Concealment of treason.

Any person who knowing that any person intends to commit treason does not give information thereof with all reasonable dispatch to the Minister, an administrative officer, a magistrate or an officer in charge of a police station, or use all reasonable endeavours to prevent the commission of the offence of treason commits the offence of misprision of treason and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for life.

26. Terrorism.

(1) Any person who engages in or carries out acts of terrorism commits an offence and is liable to imprisonment for life.

(2) Any person who aids, finances, harbours or in any other way renders support to any other person, knowing or having reason to believe that such support will be applied or used for or in connection with the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism, commits an offence and is liable to imprisonment for life.

(3) Any person who either—

(a) belongs or professes to belong to a terrorist organisation; or

(b) solicits or invites financial or other support for a terrorist organisation or knowingly makes or receives any contribution in money or otherwise to the resources of a terrorist organisation, commits an offence and is liable to imprisonment for ten years; except that a person belonging to a terrorist organisation shall not be guilty of an offence under this subsection by reason of belonging to the organisation if he or she shows that he or she became a member when it was not a terrorist organisation and that he or she has not since he or she became a member taken part in any of its activities at any time while it was a terrorist organisation.

(4) Without prejudice to the right to adduce evidence in rebuttal, any person who imports, sells, distributes, manufactures or is in possession of any firearm, explosives or ammunition without a valid licence or reasonable excuse shall be deemed to be engaged in acts of terrorism.

(5) The Minister responsible for internal security may, with the prior approval of the Cabinet, declare any organisation engaged in or carrying out acts of terrorism to be a terrorist organisation for the purposes of this section.

(6) In this section, “terrorism” means the use of violence or a threat of the use of violence with intent to promote or achieve political ends in an unlawful manner and includes the use of violence or a threat of the use of violence calculated to put the public in such fear as may cause discontent against the Government.

27. Promoting war on chiefs, etc.

Any person who, without lawful authority, or by reason of his or her office, carries on, or makes preparation for carrying on, or aids in or advises the carrying on of, or preparation for, any war or warlike undertaking with, for, by or against any chief, body or group of persons commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for life.

28. Time within which to commence prosecution.

No person shall be tried for an offence under section 23, except an offence under section 23(1)(b), 24, 25 or 27, unless the prosecution is commenced within five years after the commission of the offence.

29. Aiding soldiers or policemen in acts of mutiny.

Any person who— (a) aids, abets or is accessory to any act of mutiny by; or

(b) incites to sedition or to disobedience to any lawful order given by a superior officer,

any noncommissioned officer or member of the armed forces of Uganda or any police officer commits an offence and is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years.

30. Inducing soldiers or policemen to desert.

Any person who, by any means, directly or indirectly— (a) procures or persuades or attempts to procure or persuade to desert;

(b) aids, abets or is accessory to the desertion of; or

(c) having reason to believe he or she is a deserter, harbours or aids in concealing, any noncommissioned officer or member of the armed forces of Uganda or any police officer commits an offence and is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years.

31. Aiding prisoners of war to escape.

(1) Any person who knowingly and advisedly aids an alien enemy of the Republic of Uganda, being a prisoner of war in Uganda, whether the prisoner is confined in a prison or elsewhere or is suffered to be at large on parole, to escape from that prison or place of confinement or, if he or she is at large on parole, to escape from Uganda, commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for life.

(2) Any person who negligently and unlawfully permits the escape of any person as described in subsection (1) commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years.

32. Definition of overt act.

For the purposes of any offence defined in this Chapter, when the manifestation by an overt act of an intention to effect any purpose is an element of the offence, every act in furtherance of the commission of the offence defined or every act of conspiring with any person to effect that purpose and every act done in furtherance of the purpose by any of the persons conspiring shall be deemed to be an overt act manifesting the intention.

33. Interpretation of import, publication, etc.

For the purposes of sections 34, 35, 36, 38, 39, 40, 42, 43 and 44— (a) “import” includes—

(i) to bring into Uganda; and

(ii) to bring within the inland waters of Uganda, whether or not the publication is brought ashore and whether or not there is an intention to bring the publication ashore;

(b) “inland waters” includes all lakes, rivers, creeks and lagoons of Uganda;

(c) “periodical publication” includes every publication issued periodically or in parts or numbers at intervals whether regular or irregular;

(d) “publication” includes all written and printed matter and any gramophone or other record, perforated roll, cinematograph film or other contrivance by means of which any words or ideas may be mechanically produced, represented or conveyed, and everything whether of a nature similar to the foregoing or not, containing any visible representation or by its form, shape or in any manner capable of producing, representing or conveying words or ideas, and every copy and reproduction of any publication so defined;

(e) “seditious publication” means a publication having a seditious intention.

34. Power to prohibit importation of publications, etc.

(1) Whenever the Minister considers it in the public interest so to do, he or she may, in his or her absolute discretion, prohibit, by statutory order, the importation of all publications or any of them, periodical or otherwise; and where the prohibition is in respect of any periodical publications, the same or any subsequent order may relate to all or any of the past or future issues of a periodical publication.

(2) The Minister may, by writing under his or her hand, at any time, and from time to time, exempt any of the publications the importation of which has been prohibited under this section, or permit any person or class of persons to import all or any of such publications.

35. Offences in relation to publications, the importation of which is

prohibited. (1) Any person who imports, publishes, sells, offers for sale, distributes or reproduces any publication, the importation of which has been prohibited under section 34, or any extract from such publication, commits an offence and is liable for a first offence to imprisonment for two years or to a fine not exceeding two thousand shillings or to both such imprisonment and fine, and for a subsequent offence to imprisonment for three years; and such publication or extract from it shall be forfeited to the Government.

(2) Any person who without lawful excuse has in his or her possession any publication the importation of which has been prohibited under section 34, or any extract from such publication, commits an offence and is liable for a first offence to imprisonment for one year or to a fine not exceeding one thousand shillings or to both such imprisonment and fine, and for a subsequent offence to imprisonment for two years; and such publication or extract from it shall be forfeited to the Government.

36. Delivery of prohibited publications.

(1) Any person—

(a) to whom any publication, the importation of which has been prohibited under section 34, or any extract from such publication, is sent without his or her knowledge or privity, or in response to a request made before the prohibition of the importation of such publication came into effect; or

(b) who has any such publication or extract from such publication in his or her possession at the time when the prohibition of its importation comes into effect, shall forthwith, if or as soon as the nature of its contents has become known to him or her, or in the case of a publication or extract from such publication coming into the possession of such person before the order prohibiting its importation has been made, forthwith upon the coming into effect of an order prohibiting the importation of the publication, deliver such publication or extract from it to the nearest administrative officer or to the officer in charge of the nearest police station.

(2) Any person who contravenes any provision of subsection (1) commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or to a fine not exceeding thirty thousand shillings or to both such imprisonment and fine.

(3) Any publication or extract from it which is the subject matter of a conviction under subsection (2) shall be forfeited to the Government.

(4) Any person who complies with subsection (1), or who is convicted of an offence under that subsection, shall not be liable to be convicted for having imported or having in his or her possession the same publication or extract from it.

37. Publication of information prejudicial to security.

(1) A person who publishes or causes to be published in a book, newspaper, magazine, article or any other printed matter, information regarding military operations, strategies, troop location or movement, location of military supplies or equipment of the armed forces or of the enemy, which publication is likely to—

(a) endanger the safety of any military installations, equipment or supplies or of the members of the armed forces of Uganda;

(b) assist the enemy in its operations; or

(c) disrupt public order and security, commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding seven years.

(2) For the purposes of this section, “enemy” includes a person or group of persons engaged in waging war or war-like activities against the Republic of Uganda.

(3) A person shall not be prosecuted for an offence under this section without the written consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

38. Power to examine packages.

(1) Any of the following officers—

(a) any police officer not below the rank of inspector;

(b) any other officer authorised in that behalf by the Minister, may detain, open and examine any package or article which he or she suspects to contain any publication or extract from a publication which it is an offence under section 35 to import, publish, sell, offer for sale, distribute, reproduce or possess and during such examination may detain any person importing, distributing or posting such package or article or in whose possession such package or article is found.

(2) If any such publication or extract from it is found in such package or article, the whole package or article may be impounded and retained by the officer; and the person importing, distributing or posting it or in whose possession it is found may forthwith be arrested and proceeded against for the commission of an offence under section 35 or 36, as the case may be.

39. Seditious intention.

(1) A seditious intention shall be an intention—

(a) to bring into hatred or contempt or to excite disaffection against the person of the President, the Government as by law established or the Constitution;

(b) to excite any person to attempt to procure the alteration, otherwise than by lawful means, of any matter in state as by law established;

(d) to subvert or promote the subversion of the Government or the administration of a district.

(2) For the purposes of this section, an act, speech or publication shall not be deemed to be seditious by reason only that it intends—

(a) to show that the Government has been misled or mistaken in any of its measures;

(b) to point out errors or defects in the Government or the Constitution or in legislation or in the administration of justice with a view to remedying such errors or defects;

(3) For the purposes of this section, in determining whether the intention with which any act was done, any words were spoken or any document was published was or was not seditious, every person shall be deemed to intend the consequences which would naturally follow from his or her conduct at the time and in the circumstances in which he or she was conducting himself or herself.

40. Seditious offences.

(1) Any person who—

(a) does or attempts to do or makes any preparation to do, or conspires with any person to do, any act with a seditious intention;

(b) utters any words with a seditious intention;

(d) imports any seditious publication, unless he or she has no reason to believe, the proof of which shall lie on him or her, that it is seditious,

commits an offence and is liable on first conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years or to a fine not exceeding fifty thousand shillings or to both such imprisonment and fine, and for a subsequent conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding seven years.

(2) Any person who, without lawful excuse, has in his or her possession any seditious publication commits an offence and is liable on first conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or to a fine not exceeding thirty thousand shillings or to both such imprisonment and fine, and on a subsequent conviction to imprisonment for five years.

(3) Any publication in respect of a conviction under subsection (1) or (2) shall be forfeited to the Government.

(4) It shall be a defence to a charge under subsection (2) that if the person charged did not know that the publication was seditious when it came into his or her possession, he or she did, as soon as the nature of the publication became known to him or her, deliver the publication to the nearest administrative officer or to the officer in charge of the nearest police station.

41. Promoting sectarianism.

(1) A person who prints, publishes, makes or utters any statement or does any act which is likely to—

(a) degrade, revile or expose to hatred or contempt;

(b) create alienation or despondency of;

(d) promote, in any other way, feelings of ill will or hostility among or against,

any group or body of persons on account of religion, tribe or ethnic or regional origin commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years.

(2) It shall be a defence to a charge under subsection (1) if the statement was printed, published, made or uttered, or the act was done with a view to exposing, discouraging or eliminating matters which promote or have a tendency to promote sectarianism.

(3) Sections 42, 43 and 44 shall apply to a charge under subsection (1).

42. Power of courts to confiscate printing machines and prohibit publication.

(1) When any person is convicted of printing a seditious publication, the court may, in addition to any other penalty it may impose, order the printing machine on which the publication was printed to be confiscated for a period not exceeding one year, whether or not the person convicted is the owner of the machine.

(2) When any proprietor, publisher, printer or editor of a newspaper, as defined in the Press and Journalist Act, is convicted of printing or publishing a seditious publication in a newspaper, the court may, in addition to any other punishment it may impose and in addition to ordering the confiscation of the printing machine, make an order prohibiting any further publication of the newspaper for a period not exceeding one year.

(3) A court may, at any time, on the application of the Director of Public Prosecutions, revoke any order made by it confiscating a printing machine or prohibiting further publication of a newspaper.

(4) A court before ordering the confiscation of a printing machine under subsection (1) shall satisfy itself by evidence on oath as to the machine on which the seditious publication was printed.

(5) For the purposes of this section, “printing machine” includes all the machines and type used in producing or reproducing the seditious publication.

(6) In any case where the printing machine has been ordered to be confiscated under this section, the Inspector General of Police may in his or her discretion cause—

(a) the machine or any part of it to be removed; or

(b) any part of the machine to be sealed so as to prevent its use, but the owner of the machine or his or her agents shall be entitled to reasonable access to the machine to maintain it in proper working order.

(7) The Inspector General of Police shall not be liable for any damage caused to the machine under subsection (6) either by neglect or otherwise except where he or she or his or her agents have wilfully damaged the machine.

(8) Any person who uses or attempts to use a printing machine confiscated under subsection (1) commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for a period not exceeding three years.

(9) Any person who prints or publishes a newspaper in contravention of an order made under subsection (2) commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for a period not exceeding three years.

43. Legal proceedings.

(1) No prosecution for an offence under section 40 shall be begun except within six months after the offence is committed; except that where a person—

(a) commits such an offence from outside Uganda; or

(b) leaves Uganda within six months of committing such an offence, then the prosecution for the offence may be begun within six months from the date when the person first arrives in or returns to Uganda after committing the offence or leaving Uganda, as the case may be.

(2) A person shall not be prosecuted for an offence under section 40 without the written consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

44. Evidence.

No person shall be convicted of an offence under section 40 on the uncorroborated testimony of one witness.

45. Unlawful oaths.

Any person who— (a) administers or is present at and consents to the administering of, any oath or engagement in the nature of an oath, purporting to bind the person who takes it to commit any offence punishable with death; or

(b) takes any such oath or engagement, not being compelled to do so, commits a felony and is liable to imprisonment for life.

46. Other unlawful oaths.

Any person who— (a) administers or is present at and consents to the administering of, any oath or engagement in the nature of an oath, purporting to bind the person who takes it to act in any of the following ways—

(i) to engage in any mutinous or seditious enterprise;

(ii) to commit any offence not punishable with death;

(iii) to disturb the public peace;

(iv) to be of any association, society or confederacy, formed for the purpose of doing any such act as aforesaid;

(v) to obey the orders or commands of any committee or body of men not lawfully constituted, or of any leader or commander or other person not having authority by law for that purpose;

(vi) not to inform or give evidence against any associate, confederate or other person;

(vii) not to reveal or discover any unlawful association, society or confederacy, or any illegal act done or to be done, or any illegal oath or engagement that may have been administered or tendered to or taken by himself or herself or any other person, or the import of any such oath or engagement; or

(b) takes any such oath or engagement, not being compelled to do so, commits a felony and is liable to imprisonment for seven years.

47. Limitations on compulsion as a defence to unlawful oath or

engagement. A person who takes any such oath or engagement as is mentioned in section 45 or 46 cannot set up as a defence that he or she was compelled to do so, unless within fourteen days after taking it, or, if he or she is prevented by actual force or sickness, within fourteen days after the termination of such prevention, he or she declares by information on oath before a magistrate, or, if he or she is on actual service in the armed forces of Uganda, or in a police force, either by such information or by information to his or her commanding officer, the whole of what he or she knows concerning the matter, including the person or persons by whom and in whose presence, and the place where, and the time when, the oath or engagement was administered or taken.

48. Unlawful drilling.

(1) Any person who—

(a) without the permission of the Minister trains or drills any other person to the use of arms or the practice of military exercises, movements or evolutions;

(b) is present at any meeting or assembly of persons, held without the permission of the Minister, for the purpose of training or drilling any other persons to the use of arms or the practice of military exercises, movements or evolutions, commits a felony and is liable to imprisonment for seven years.

(2) Any person who, at any meeting or assembly held without the permission of the Minister, is trained or drilled to the use of arms or the practice of military exercises, movements or evolutions, or who is present at any such meeting or assembly for the purpose of being so trained or drilled, commits an offence and is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years.

Wrongfully inducing a boycott. (1) Whenever the Minister is satisfied that any boycott is being conducted or is threatened or is likely to be conducted in Uganda with the intention or effect of— (a) bringing into hatred or contempt, exciting disaffection against or undermining the lawful authority of the Government or the administration of a district; or of persuading any such body to alter any written law, to appoint any commission or committee or to take any action which it is not by law required to take; (b) bringing the economic life of Uganda into jeopardy; or (c) raising discontent or disaffection among the inhabitants, or engendering feelings of ill will or hostility between different classes or different races of the population of Uganda, and he or she is satisfied that the boycott is resulting, or will be likely to result, in acts leading to violence or intimidation or the destruction of or damage to property, the Minister may, by statutory order, designate that boycott for the purposes of this section and may, by the same or any subsequent order, specify in relation to a designated boycott any action which he or she is satisfied is likely to further that boycott, including (but without prejudice to the generality of that power) any action falling within any of the following classes of action— (d) abstaining from buying goods from or selling goods to any person or class of person; (e) abstaining from buying or selling any goods or class of goods; (f) abstaining from entering or approaching or dealing at any premises at which any person or class of person carries on trade or business; (g) abstaining from dealing with any person or class of person in the course of his or her trade or business; (h) abstaining from using or providing any service or class of service; (i) abstaining from working for or employing any person or class of person; or (j) abstaining from doing any other act which may lawfully be done. (2) Any person who with intent to further any designated boycott— (a) by word of mouth publicly; or (b) by making a publication as defined in subsection (7), advises, induces or persuades or attempts to persuade any person or class of person to take any action which has been specified in relation to that boycott commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for a period not exceeding six months. (3) For the purposes of this section, in determining whether any words were spoken or any publication was made with intent to further a designated boycott, every person shall, unless the contrary is proved, be deemed to intend the consequences which would naturally follow from his or her conduct at the time and in the circumstances in which he or she so conducted himself or herself. (4) Nothing in this section shall be construed so as to make unlawful any action lawfully taken by a party to a trade dispute as defined in the Trade Unions Act in contemplation or in furtherance of that dispute. (5) Where any person is charged before any court with an offence under this section, no further proceedings in respect of the offence shall be taken against him or her without the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions, except such as the court may think necessary by remand, whether in custody or on bail, or otherwise to secure the due appearance of the person charged so, however, that if that person is remanded in custody, he or she shall, after the expiration of a period of fourteen days from the date on which he or she was so remanded, be entitled to be discharged from custody on entering into a recognisance without sureties unless within that period the Director of Public Prosecutions has consented to such further proceedings. (6) Any order made under this section may at any time be amended, varied, suspended or revoked by a further order so made. (7) For the purpose of this section, “publication” has the meaning given to it by section 33, and a person shall be deemed to make a publication if he or she prints, publishes, sells, offers for sale, distributes or reproduces it.
Publication of false news. (1) Any person who publishes any false statement, rumour or report which is likely to cause fear and alarm to the public or to disturb the public peace commits a misdemeanour. (2) It shall be a defence to a charge under subsection (1) if the accused proves that prior to publication, he or she took such measures to verify the accuracy of such statement, rumour or report as to lead him or her reasonably to believe that it was true.
Incitement to violence. (1) Any person who, without lawful excuse, prints, publishes or to any assembly makes any statement indicating or implying that it would be incumbent or desirable— (a) to do any acts calculated to bring death or physical injury to any person or to any class or community of persons; or (b) to do any acts calculated to lead to destruction or damage to any property, commits an offence and is liable to imprisonment for three years. (2) A person shall not be prosecuted for an offence under this section without the written consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions. (3) For the purpose of this section, “assembly” means a gathering of three or more persons.
Incitement to refuse or delay payment of tax. (1) Any person who— (a) by word of mouth or by making a publication as defined in section 49(7) incites any other person or any class or body of persons— (i) to refuse or to threaten to refuse to pay any lawful tax, however described; or (ii) to delay, prevent or obstruct, or to threaten to delay, prevent or obstruct, the assessment or collection of any lawful tax, however described; or (b) conspires with another to do any act mentioned in paragraph (a)(i) or (ii) of this subsection, commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for a period not exceeding three years. (2) A person shall not be prosecuted for an offence under this section without the written consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions

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