The Deputy Speaker, Thomas Tayebwa, has urged the Attorney General to give advisories on all international treaties that are brought before Cabinet and Parliament for consideration.
He alluded to the Samoa Agreement which he said Uganda had agreed to, but following scrutiny by lawmakers, was revisited by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“Those treaties are so detailed and have a lot of annexes, tricky language, and are written in small letters. The draft Samoa Agreement had a requirement that we should provide money for abortion, that we should amend our laws to align with LGBTQI. And it indicated that the agreement would supersede the national law,” Tayebwa noted.
Speaking on the agreement, he commended legislators of the 11th Parliament including Hon. Samuel Opio, Hon. Theodore Ssekikubo and late Hon. Cecilia Ogwal for putting up a spirited fight against some of the clauses that were not in Uganda’s interests.
“When I reached Brussels, I was confronted with that document which I read overnight. I called my minister and asked him if he agreed to it. I called the Attorney General who told me he had never seen it. So, Attorney General, I request you to put your foot on the ground so that nobody negotiates and commits our country without your involvement,” said Tayebwa.
He also cited Rule 41 of the Rules of Procedure of Parliament on presentation of treaties, protocols or international agreements before Parliament, noting that the House requires regular updates on such documents.
Rule 41(1) reads: “The Minister responsible for treaties, protocols or international agreements shall lay before Parliament, a treaty, protocol or international agreement entered into by the Government of Uganda, within ninety working days after the treaty, protocol or international agreement has been concluded or signed.”
“There are commitments we make and fees we pay to these organisations, but we never receive any reports. I request the Minister for Foreign Affairs to ensure that we receive all these reports at least twice a year,” said the Deputy Speaker.
He made the remarks while chairing a plenary sitting on Tuesday, 04 August 2026, where the State Minister for Foreign Affairs, also acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hon. Haruna Kasolo, tabled before Parliament several treaties, protocols and international agreements that have been ratified or acceded to by government of Uganda between 2021 and 2025.
Among the documents tabled were the World Intellectual Property Organisation Copyright Treaty, the Beijing Treaty on Audiovisual Performances, the Treaty for the Establishment of the African Medicines Agency and the East African Community Protocol on Information and Communications Technology Networks.
Hon. Patrick Nsamba (NUP, Kassanda County North) alluded to Rule 42(1) on the ratification of treaties, and proposed that the documents tabled by the minister should be scrutinised by a committee of Parliament.
“Mr Speaker, I have seen many protocols and treaties, and you rightly put it that they need to be examined. Since they are many, shall you refer them to their particular respective committees?” Nsamba asked.
The Deputy Speaker tasked the Committee on Foreign Affairs to examine the relevant protocols, treaties and agreements, and give a report within 45 days, to the House.
Tayebwa encouraged MPs on international delegations to coordinate effectively with Uganda’s missions abroad, following Hon. Hassan Kirumira’s (NUP, Katikamu County South) concern on declarations passed without the knowledge of Ugandan lawmakers attending international conferences.
