Rt. Hon. Oboth presented the UPDF (Amendment) Bill, 2025 for its first reading — a wide overhaul of military justice, prosecutions, defence health services and veterans' affairs.
Presented as Minister of Defence and Veteran Affairs.
On 13 May 2025, as Minister of Defence and Veteran Affairs, Rt. Hon. Jacob Oboth presented the Uganda Peoples' Defence Forces (Amendment) Bill, 2025 to Parliament for its first reading.
The Bill proposed to restructure and re-establish the courts martial, create a Military Courts Department and a Directorate of Military Prosecutions, establish new services including the Special Forces Command and the Reserve Force, decentralise pension management to the Ministry of Defence and Veteran Affairs, and introduce health care and disability compensation for military personnel.
It also responded to a Supreme Court ruling on the trial of civilians in military courts, providing for such trials only in exceptional circumstances — where the offence is committed in support of, or in association with, persons subject to military law. The Bill was referred to the relevant committees for scrutiny.
Summary compiled from the Parliament of Uganda's report of the sitting; the full debate is in the Official Report (Hansard) for the date. Source — Parliament of Uganda.
