Welcome to Parliament, Here Is What Is on Uganda’s Plate: Orienting 200 New MPs on the Right to Food

As the 12th Parliament began its term, CEFROHT helped brief 200 Members on the food and nutrition laws Uganda can no longer postpone.

A new Parliament is a little like a new school year. Fresh faces, big ambitions, and a long list of unfinished homework left behind by the class before.

On 11 and 12 August 2026, CEFROHT made sure food was near the top of that list. Alongside the Uganda Parliamentary Alliance on Food and Nutrition Security (UPA FNS), we took part in a two-day orientation for 200 Members of the newly sworn-in 12th Parliament at Imperial Royale Hotel in Kampala.

The orientation was coordinated by UPA FNS with CEFROHT, the World Food Programme, CARE International, the Embassy of the Netherlands, GAIN and PELUM Uganda. The First Deputy Prime Minister set the tone, urging Members to fast-track the Food and Nutrition Bill and follow up on legislation already before the Executive. In other words: finish the homework.

Our lesson: food is a legal right

CEFROHT’s session focused on the legal frameworks for the right to adequate food and nutrition. We walked Members through Uganda’s constitutional and international obligations to protect the right to food and the right to health, and how Parliament can use its two most powerful tools, legislation and oversight, to tackle what undermines those rights.

The urgency is real. Non-communicable diseases account for about 33 percent of deaths in Uganda, while the country still battles food insecurity and poor diets, alongside rising overweight and obesity. Food policy can no longer be only about quantity. It must also ask whether the food people can reach is safe, nutritious and good for their health.

Parliament cannot legislate appetite. It can legislate the environment that shapes it.

A tool waiting for lawmakers to use it

We drew Members’ attention to Uganda’s newly launched Nutrient Profile Model, the scientific method for identifying foods and drinks high in sugar, salt and unhealthy fats. We asked them to help turn that evidence into law, especially mandatory Front of Pack Warning Labelling and stronger protection for children against the marketing of unhealthy foods.

Our partners added powerful evidence. WFP reported that about 30 percent of primary school learners nationally have no access to school meals, rising to 63 percent in Universal Primary Education schools. Others highlighted continuing food insecurity in Karamoja and other vulnerable communities.

Put those facts together, and the picture is clear. The same child may go to school without a meal and still be surrounded by unhealthy food. Solving that takes action across education, health, agriculture, trade, consumer protection and law. That is precisely the joined up thinking CEFROHT brings to Parliament.

The first conversation of many

An orientation is a beginning, not an achievement. Over the next five years we will keep building relationships with Members and committees, providing evidence for debate and following every bill that touches the right to food, from the Food and Nutrition Bill to warning label regulation. Lawmakers come and go. The right to food does not expire with a parliamentary term.

Want to help Uganda’s new Parliament get food law right? Support our parliamentary engagement, connect us with your MP, or partner with us at info@cefroht.org.