Civil Society Activists have called on the Opposition to lead the amendments to the Ratification of Treaties Act in Uganda to ensure that the role of ratification of the treaties, agreements, and protocols signed by Uganda has an input of Ugandans through their leaders the Parliamentarians, saying the current provision that only requires input of Cabinet has been abused.
The call was made by Jane Nalunga, Executive Director of Southern and Eastern Africa Trade Information and Negotiations Institute (SEATINI) Uganda while presenting their petition to the Leader of Opposition, Mathias Mpuuga where they cited the Energy Charter Treaty with problematic clauses that only require disputes to be handled at international courts which undermines the sovereignty, and makes it costly for Uganda in terms of litigation.
She also revealed that certain protocols if entered into would take Uganda 26 years to exit, and even some of them after exiting them 20 years down the road, Uganda can be held liable, which calls for the need to have these treaties and protocols tabled before Parliament for scrutiny.
Leader of Opposition Mpuuga welcomed the recommendation made by SEATINI revealing that although the Minister of State for Regional Affairs, John Mulumba tabled a list of 270 protocols and treaties signed and ratified by Uganda, the Government fell short of tabling all these treaties.
Mpuuga was backed by the shadow minister of foreign affairs Muwada Nkunyingi who noted that the time has come to have all trade agreements and treaties be subjected to parliamentary approval.
The energy charter treaty-ECT was signed in 1994 and currently has 54 signatories. However, it has recently become contentious and a number of governments in Europe including France, Germany, Netherlands etc… are pulling out after recognizing how damaging it is to their climate commitments.
Activists are worried about the recent commitment by the government to Uganda to join the contentious treaty.
