Serious Fighting Erupts at City Hotel as MPs Clash Over Sovereignty Bill
Munyonyo, Uganda – Tensions flared dramatically at the Commonwealth Resort Munyonyo over the weekend as members of Parliament processing the controversial Protection of Sovereignty Bill 2026 exchanged blows, forcing heavy police deployment to the hotel.
According to reports from the scene, lawmakers on the committees of Defense and Internal Affairs, alongside Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, disagreed sharply with their chairpersons over how to proceed with the bill. The incident occurred as the government rushes to pass the legislation before President Yoweri Museveni’s swearing-in on May 12.
Journalist Solomon Serwanja reported that committee members had initially agreed to review public submissions clause-by-clause. However, the committee chairpersons instead proposed adopting the Attorney General’s amended version as-is, bypassing the input from religious leaders, lawyers, banks, and other stakeholders.
“All committee members had agreed to incorporate the public views… which the committee bosses sharply disagreed with and opted for the mafia style,” Serwanja reported. In the end, members voted on each clause of the revised version, effectively discarding weeks of public hearings.
The bill, introduced two weeks ago by Minister of State for Internal Affairs Gen. David Muhoozi, has faced widespread rejection from stakeholders. President Museveni recently distanced himself from the current version, claiming he had directed that it be withdrawn and replaced with his original initiative—one that regulates policy, not private donor funding or individual operations.
Despite the backlash, government is determined to pass the bill this week. MPs were working through the weekend at the lakeside resort to complete a marathon second and third reading.
Police have since been heavily deployed in and around the hotel to calm the situation following the physical altercations.
Source information courtesy of Citizen Posts and journalist Solomon Serwanja.
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