The Anti-Counterfeit Network Chairman, Fred Muwema, has revealed that during consultations on the Anti-Counterfeit Goods and Services Bill, 2023, Ugandans called for stringent punishment of death or life imprisonment to be imposed on anyone found liable of producing counterfeits.
These remarks were made when Muwema was addressing journalists at Parliament on October 14, 2024, regarding an update on how far they have gone with the enactment of the Anti-Counterfeit Goods and Services Bill, 2023.
Muwema explained that some of the products produced are harmful to human health, thus the need to increase a 10-year proposed punishment or even more.
“The law is proposing a punishment of 10 years. Before we had small penalties of two years, and UGX 2M, however, where we have been in consultations, most people were saying counterfeiters are killers, so they should suffer death or life,” Muwema said.
Read Also: Parliament to Seek Public Advice on the Anti-Counterfeit Goods Bill 2023
He added that the idea of the law is to make it very risky for anybody to engage in counterfeits, and that is why there are those punishments.
Muwema revealed that 20–30% of the nation’s economic output is wasted on counterfeits.
“We are dying; even as we speak now, there is a child dying of malaria, and the chances are that child is taking substandard or counterfeit anti-malaria; the child is becoming anemic, and this health impact also has an economic impact because if you are a mother and your child is sick, it means you will not go to work. So, there is lost economic output, which to Africa is estimated at US$40M. Our national budget, 20-30% of that, is wasted on counterfeits, so the impact is so wide; unfortunately, there isn’t enough research in this area,” Muwema noted.
Read Also: Asuman Basalirwa given Leave to handle ‘The Anti-Counterfeit Bill’
On July 28, 2023, parliament granted leave to the Bugiri Municipality Member of Parliament, Asuman Basaliwa, to introduce a Private Member’s Bill entitled The Anti-Counterfeit Bill, 2023.
The bill was first introduced in 2015, but the Cabinet withdrew it on grounds that there were other laws that address counterfeiting goods.
