URRO

All posts by Ivan Mawanda

URSB Raises Concerns Over Private Copy Remuneration Scheme

 

The Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB) has expressed opposition to a provision in the Copyright and Neighboring Rights Amendment Bill, 2025, that proposes the creation of a private copy remuneration scheme.

Who is the Enemy of Uganda’s Creative Industry?

By Charles Batambuze

Every thriving economy must ask itself a hard question: who is standing in the way of its creatives? For Uganda, this question has become urgent as Parliament debates the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Amendment Bill, 2025, particularly the introduction of a Private Copy Remuneration scheme.

At first glance, the Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB) warns that such a levy will make gadgets like smartphones and computers more expensive and slow down ICT adoption. But this argument, while convenient, distracts from the bigger truth. The real “enemy” of Uganda’s creative industry is not the levy. It is the entrenched system that enables free, uncompensated use of creative works while opposing every attempt to reward those who produce them.

Uganda’s musicians, authors, filmmakers, performers, and visual artists fuel the very content that sells gadgets, fills social media platforms, drives internet bundles, and sustains telecom profits. Yet, despite this undeniable contribution, they remain at the bottom of the earning pyramid. This is not by accident. It is the result of deliberate resistance to creating mechanisms that would ensure creators share in the wealth their works generate.

The private copy remuneration scheme is simple. It recognizes that in today’s world, copying is inevitable. When someone buys a device, they are effectively buying a means of reproducing and enjoying creative works. In fairness, a small fraction of that transaction should be channeled back to the creators whose works will inevitably be copied. This principle is already embraced in Europe, Canada, and several African countries. Why then should Uganda be the exception?

Let us be honest. We cannot legislate in a digital environment where devices and media are the principal way of consuming content, and then deny the very people who produce that content a system of fair compensation. To do so is to condemn Uganda’s creatives to perpetual poverty, while protecting the profit margins of manufacturers, importers, and telecom giants.

If URSB’s concern is the affordability of devices, then the solution lies in smarter tax policy and incentives, not in denying creators their rightful earnings. Creators should not be sacrificed at the altar of “cheap gadgets.” After all, what is a smartphone without music to stream, books to download, or films to watch? It is an empty shell.

The enemy of the creative industry is not technology. It is not innovation. It is not even the consumer. The true enemy is the resistance to fairness, the refusal to acknowledge that creativity is labour, and that labour deserves reward. Every year that we delay fair remuneration schemes, Uganda loses billions in potential creative economy earnings. More painfully, we lose talent. Young artists give up, disillusioned, while others flee to countries that respect their work.

As a country, we face a choice. We can side with short-term commercial interests, or we can build a system that values creativity as a pillar of socio-economic transformation. The Copyright Amendment Bill offers us a historic chance to choose the latter.

Uganda cannot talk of job creation, innovation, and digital transformation while refusing to empower the very sector that fuels digital consumption. The day we decide to value creativity fairly is the day Uganda’s creative economy will stand tall. Until then, the real “enemy” of the creative industry will remain not outside, but inside, in the policies and attitudes that keep creators unpaid.

 

Interested in Copyright law? WATCH as Mr. Charles Batambuze explains Copyright law in Uganda.
A Tribute to Hon. Mary Karoro Okurut By Charles Batambuze — NABOTU & URRO

Uganda’s literary skies are dimmer this week, for we lost one of our brightest lights, a guardian angel for writers, a midwife of stories, and a fierce believer in the power of words.

I will always remember her signature kitenge dresses, not merely a fashion choice, but a vibrant declaration of her inner spirit and her commitment to African storytelling. She wore her identity as proudly as she championed our voices.

Through her regular column in the New Vision newspaper, she reached Uganda’s intellectual circles with courage and grace, provoking thought, inviting debate, and giving readers permission to either frown or praise. She was fearless in her opinions, yet generous in spirit.

On 30 January 2020, just weeks before the world shut down for COVID-19, Hon. Mary Karoro Okurut graced the Uganda International Book Fair at Constitution Square as our Chief Guest. It was one of the many occasions she stood in the gap for books, literature, and the dreamers behind them.

My first real exchange with her was many years ago. She had presented a paper on protecting folklore from a creative writer’s perspective. I argued that writers who use folklore should share proceeds with the communities that own it. She disagreed, gently but firmly, pointing out the creative labour and sweat of the writer. It was one of those moments you realise you are in the company of a mind that both challenges and enriches you.

Her reputation preceded her and she lived up to it. She became one of Uganda’s most prolific authors, her works filling shelves from Kampala to the furthest corners of our country. Fountain Publishers remained her faithful publishing home, ensuring her voice reached generations.

Perhaps her most enduring legacy is the Uganda Women Writers Association, FEMRITE, which she founded as a safe and nurturing space for women’s stories to be born and thrive. FEMRITE became a cradle of voices that would rise to win awards, travel the world, and inspire countless others. To the girls she mentored, she was a mother hen. To us at the National Book Trust of Uganda (NABOTU) and the Uganda Reproduction Rights Organisation (URRO), she was the visionary behind one of our most cherished and dependable member organisations, a beacon for discovering and nurturing new talent. We also recognise with gratitude Goretti Kyomuhendo, the founding Director of FEMRITE, and Hilda Twongyeirwe, the current Director, for faithfully carrying forward her vision and ensuring that FEMRITE remains a living testament to the founder’s dream.

We will miss you deeply, Mary. You lived as a custodian of stories, a believer in the written word, and a champion of the storyteller’s place in our culture.

Rest in power, dear friend. Your words live on.

 

Masterclass on Enforcing and Protecting Copyright for Writers

At the Kampala LitFest held at Onomo Hotel last year, I was with writers who attended the Masterclass on Enforcing and Protecting Copyright for Writers, there was insufficient time to address all the questions raised about copyright. This year, we plan to create more opportunities to ensure every writer and publisher can master copyright monetization strategies.