Uganda's Anti-Gay Bill Next Up on the Parliament's Agenda (UPDATED)

UPDATE: On today’s (2/20) Order Paper, the AHB has been moved down to 5th on the list of items to be considered next.  It is hard to know what to make of the Speaker’s erratic scheduling but it may be an effort to keep observers off guard. In any case, the bill remains on the agenda and may come up at any time Speaker Kadaga wants to move it forward.
According to today’s agenda, the Anti-Homosexuality Bill is the first bill to be considered after today’s business is completed. Since today’s agenda is quite full, I imagine that some of what is planned for today will carry over until tomorrow. Thus, it seems unlikely that the bill will come up tomorrow. If the Speaker’s priorities remain the same, it could come to the floor Thursday or early next week.  Here is the line up of business to follow today’s work.

(B)       BILLS THIRD READING
MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE BILL, 2009
(Hon.  Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs)

  1. ADJOURNMENT

NOTICE OF BUSINESS TO FOLLOW 

  1. THE ANTI-HOMOSEXUALITY BILL, 2009
  2. PETITION OF THE PEOPLE OF BULEGENI TOWN COUNCIL IN BULAMBULI DISTRICT
  3. REPORT OF THE ADHOC COMMITTEE INVESTIGATING THE ELECTRICITY SUB SECTOR
  4. REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTS ON THE REPORT OF THE AUDITOR GENERAL FOR THE LOCAL AUTHORITIES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30TH JUNE 2009 

KAMPALA
19TH FEBRUARY 2013

It appears that the bill will come up for a second and third reading at some point in the next two weeks.  Given the opposition of the Executive branch, it may be that some maneuver will take place at the last minute to keep it from a vote. However, it appears that the bill will make it to the floor soon.

10 thoughts on “Uganda's Anti-Gay Bill Next Up on the Parliament's Agenda (UPDATED)”

  1. Didn’t express myself too well above: I didn’t mean to suggest that it was ‘ironic’ that dumping the AHB would be good for UG. I suspect more and more people in Kampala are coming round to this view.
    What IS perhaps ironic is the fact that the shambolic farce that the whole saga has become is a big ‘minus’ for the anti-gay lobby.
    On another note: the Marriage & Divorce Bill currently being debated makes clear that same-sex couples cannot marry. If this bill passes in its current form (which is not certain, as there are divisions in parliament over it, and the Church is not happy about it) there will then be one less ‘justification’ for Bahati.

  2. Didn’t express myself too well above: I didn’t mean to suggest that it was ‘ironic’ that dumping the AHB would be good for UG. I suspect more and more people in Kampala are coming round to this view.
    What IS perhaps ironic is the fact that the shambolic farce that the whole saga has become is a big ‘minus’ for the anti-gay lobby.
    On another note: the Marriage & Divorce Bill currently being debated makes clear that same-sex couples cannot marry. If this bill passes in its current form (which is not certain, as there are divisions in parliament over it, and the Church is not happy about it) there will then be one less ‘justification’ for Bahati.

  3. (I’ve just been talking with a commentator in UG. We reckon that the biggest ‘winners’ by far in this whole sorry saga are probably the LGBT ‘activists’ in ‘the West’ – the Bahati Bill has been a massive embarrassment to the ‘opposition’, and a most effective fund-raiser for ‘rights’ groups in UG. The best interests of UG would be, ironically perhaps, served by the quick ‘dispatch to the dustbin’ of the Bill followed perhaps by the decriminalization of consensual same-sex relationships, as dumping the Bill alone will no longer satisfy the Bill’s opponents. I suspect that M7 understands this. Tricky one for him?)

  4. (I’ve just been talking with a commentator in UG. We reckon that the biggest ‘winners’ by far in this whole sorry saga are probably the LGBT ‘activists’ in ‘the West’ – the Bahati Bill has been a massive embarrassment to the ‘opposition’, and a most effective fund-raiser for ‘rights’ groups in UG. The best interests of UG would be, ironically perhaps, served by the quick ‘dispatch to the dustbin’ of the Bill followed perhaps by the decriminalization of consensual same-sex relationships, as dumping the Bill alone will no longer satisfy the Bill’s opponents. I suspect that M7 understands this. Tricky one for him?)

  5. A couple more bills appear to have ‘leapfrogged’ Bahati.
    One wonders what’s happening.

  6. A couple more bills appear to have ‘leapfrogged’ Bahati.
    One wonders what’s happening.

  7. It might be that the order on ‘Notice of Business to Follow’ is not indicative of that in which the items listed will be considered, although one could be forgiven for suspected a certain amount of ‘confusion’ here (the POMB 2011 has ponce again been listed ‘ahead’ of Bahati).
    The Bill has, especially since Kadaga’s ‘Christmas Promise’, become a matter of high politics, and I think we can now all safely assume that it (the Bill) is no longer of any real significance ‘on its own account’ – it’s about who will get the ‘upper hand’ in the ongoing political manoeuvres. Its continued existence a classic ‘lose-lose’ situation for Ugandans: not only does it threaten many innocent people with significant prison terms or worse; it has, in different ways, become an acute embarrassment to various of Uganda’s rulers. Let’s hope that the ‘signs of sanity’, such as the ‘minority’ report from members of the LPAC, are a prelude to a more sensible chapter in this whole sorry affair.

  8. It might be that the order on ‘Notice of Business to Follow’ is not indicative of that in which the items listed will be considered, although one could be forgiven for suspected a certain amount of ‘confusion’ here (the POMB 2011 has ponce again been listed ‘ahead’ of Bahati).
    The Bill has, especially since Kadaga’s ‘Christmas Promise’, become a matter of high politics, and I think we can now all safely assume that it (the Bill) is no longer of any real significance ‘on its own account’ – it’s about who will get the ‘upper hand’ in the ongoing political manoeuvres. Its continued existence a classic ‘lose-lose’ situation for Ugandans: not only does it threaten many innocent people with significant prison terms or worse; it has, in different ways, become an acute embarrassment to various of Uganda’s rulers. Let’s hope that the ‘signs of sanity’, such as the ‘minority’ report from members of the LPAC, are a prelude to a more sensible chapter in this whole sorry affair.

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