UGANDA’S MUSEVENI SIGNS A CONTROVERSIAL ANTI-HOMOSEXUALITY LAW

By Ignatius Bahizi, TAG AFRICA EDITOR

KAMPALA -30 MAY 2023- Uganda’s president Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has signed the controversial anti-homosexuality bill 2023 into law. In April, Museveni refused to ascent to the bill and referred it back to Parliament for review. He had wanted the legislators to remove a clause that criminalized one for identifying as a homosexual but rather punishes the act itself.

Museveni also asked the legislators to make a provision in the law that protects those who wish to abandon the acts of homosexuality and get rehabilitated. This was based on the argument that scientists had told the president that homosexuality is a learned behavior and not a natural factor.

President Museveni had earlier explained that homosexuals were not new in African society, that they had existed before but never exhibited their acts. He says, no one bothered about them then until they started wanting what he referred to as’ their deviation from the normal to be recognized and accepted by others, and also started recruiting members into their community.

In the process of debating the law, legislators argued that local and international groups were actively recruiting young people in the country to join the homosexual community. The alleged recruiters were said to target the unemployed youth and students by enticing them with money, and other expensive gifts.

The new law also seeks to punish the act of promoting homosexuality, recruiting people to join homosexual communities, and prescribes a death sentence for aggravated homosexuality. Aggravated homosexuality has been defined in the piece of legislation as committing homosexual acts with minors, and other vulnerable groups and infecting them with HIV/AIDS.

The law Vs Human Rights

Human rights activists across the world, western countries, and international health organizations have criticized the law describing it as draconian, and unnecessary as it will only serve the purpose of discriminating against a section of Ugandan society and promoting stigma against it.

Sarah Kihika Kasande an international Humana rights lawyer and head of the international center for Transitional Justice, described the law as bogus. ‘it is wishful thinking to assume that a piece of bogus legislation will erase the existence of LGBTQI+ persons in Uganda.’ Sarah wrote on her Twitter account.

Hours after the signing of the bill, three international health organizations- Global Fund to fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria (The Global Fund), the United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), and the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS (PEPFAR), released a joint statement condemning the law.

The organizations that fund Uganda’s health programs say that the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023 puts Uganda’s progress on its HIV response in grave jeopardy, and would undermine the general health of its citizens. The law will obstruct health education, and the outreach that can help end AIDS as a public health threat due to the stigma and discrimination it will create against the LGBTQI+ community.

The speaker of parliament Anita Annette Among, said that the legislators had heeded the concerns of Ugandans and legislated to protect the sanctity of the family, and stood strong to defend the culture, values, and aspirations of Ugandans, she said that the legislators withstood a lot of pressure and intimidation from the international lobby groups before the bill was passed.

The threat of sanctions

Western countries threatened sanctions against the government of Uganda and individuals for passing the law considered to infringe on fundamental Human rights. Hours after the bill became law, the U.S. embassy in Kampala announced to have revoked Speaker Anita Among’s current VISA to the U.S.A. It is not yet clear what other sanctions will be slapped against Uganda.

A statement from U.S. President Joe Biden said that the enactment of the Anti-Homosexuality Act was a tragic violation of universal Human rights, and jeopardizes the prospects of critical economic growth for the country. Biden says he has directed the National Security Council to evaluate the implications of the law on all aspects of U.S. engagements with Uganda.

A group of gay rights activists on Monday petitioned the Constitutional Court seeking to challenge the new law, arguing that It contravenes several provisions of the Constitution. A similar law was successfully challenged in the same court in 2014.

The post         UGANDA’S MUSEVENI SIGNS A CONTROVERSIAL ANTI-HOMOSEXUALITY LAW first appeared on The African Gazette.