THE PUBLIC ORDER MANAGEMENT BILL: KEY POINTS AND A DIAGRAM OF KEY CHANGES IN THE BILL BACKGROUND: The

Bill was conceived as a response to a series of demonstrations including those relating to Mabira Forest, Buganda Kingdom, and Walk to Work. These demonstrations and the government response led to significant damage, disruption and loss of life in Kampala and other areas. The Bill also was conceived as a response to the Constitutional Court ruling in the Muwanga Kivumbi v. Attorney General case, which declared unconstitutional section 32(2) of the Police Act that gave the Inspector General of Police (IGP) broad powers to prohibit public assemblies. OBJECTIVES: The objectives of the Bill are to regulate public meetings to safeguard public order. KEY PROVISIONS AND ANALYSIS: Gives the IGP the power to regulate the conduct of all public meetings (Section 4). Nicholas Opiyos Analysis: The broad definitions of public place, public meeting, and political organization give the state excessive latitude to use this power to selectively limit political activities. As there are no clear criteria on what constitutes public order, the Bill unduly restricts freedoms including association and speech. In Section 11, requires that organizers make no statements that conflict with any law and also requires that organizers compensate anyone who suffers loss or damage as a result of any violation of the section by the organizer. The Bill also grants the Minister the power to designate public spaces and make regulations may also further restrict the freedom of assembly. The Brief from the Prime Minister: The Bill is almost 80% changed from its original version. By limiting the notice period to three days, exempting social, cultural and religious gatherings and certain kinds of political meetings, changing the definition of public meeting, and allowing for spontaneous meetings, the amended Bill overcomes earlier criticisms that the Bill endangers the right to assemble and demonstrate peacefully. CONCLUSION: Nicholas Opiyos analysis: The Bill may cause significant damage to constitutionally guaranteed freedoms of speech, assembly and association. It seeks to re-introduce provisions of the Police Act that were previously declared unconstitutional in the Muwanga Kivumbi case. The Brief from the Prime Minister: The Bill guarantees the right of assembly and peaceful demonstration and will protect security, law and order.

A DIAGRAM OF THE BILL, ITS KEY PROVISIONS, AND AMENDMENTS MADE

Contents of the 2011 Bill Defines public meeting very broadly and to include meetings where government policies are discussed and opposition to government policies are demonstrated; excludes meetings of organizations like trade unions, social religious, cultural, or commercial organizations; also excludes party meetings held exclusively to discuss the affairs of the party or organization

Recommendations of the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee The clauses defining public meeting place unreasonable restrictions on what political parties can discuss and where they can discuss it. The Committee recommended deletion of three or more persons and wholly or partially open to air. The Committee also recommended the deletion of the entire clause 6(2) as it would allow for discrimination in terms of which meetings were lawful or not. Committee recommends revising of the clause to say regulate the conduct of all public meetings Committee recommends revising advance notice to four days Committee recommends deletion of the clause to restrict providing too much discretion to the police Committee recommends deletion since this is already covered by the Police Act; the proposals in the Bill violate international human rights norms Committee recommends deletion of the statements conflict with any law clause and amending the compensation clause to read in cooperation with the police, undertake measuresto ensure that there is no loss to a person or damage to property as a result of holding a public meeting Committee recommends deletion of the clause since it is redundant with the Police Act Committee recommends restricting the declaration of gazette areas and requiring all statutory instruments to be approved by a motion of Parliament

Final Version of the Bill The final version of the Bill defines public meeting as a gathering, assembly, procession or demonstration in a public place or premises held for the purposes of discussing, acting upon, petitioning or expressing views on a matter of public interest. It eliminates more overtly political language originally contained in 6(1) of the 2011 Bill but retains the entire section 6(2) [as 5(2) in the final Bill] on which public meetings are excluded as lawful. Final Bill changes the language from direct to regulate (see section 4 of the final Bill) Final Bill requires at least three days notice; also provides for spontaneous public meetings This clause is deleted in the final bill

Gives police power to direct the conduct of all public meetings in accordance with the law Requires organizers to provide seven days advance notice of a meeting The police may prohibit the holding of a public meeting for any other reasonable cause Provides for circumstances in which police can use firearms

The clause is deleted in the final bill

Defines responsibilities of organizers including ensure that statements made to the media and public by the organizer do not conflict with any law and compensate anyone that suffers loss or damage from any fall out of the meeting

The clause on statements to the media remains unchanged in the final bill, while the final bill requires organizers to pay compensation to a party or person who has suffered loss or damage (the any fall out clause is deleted)

Provides the police with control over the uses of public address systems Allows Minister to make statutory instruments to declare gazetted areas where public meetings cannot be held and also make other regulations for putting the Act into effect

The clause restricting the use of public address systems is deleted in the final Bill All committee recommendations adopted and statutory instruments must be laid before Parliament for approval