Stephen Tashobya, the Chair of the Parliamentary and Legal Affairs Committee in Uganda’s Parliament told me yesterday that the Anti-Homosexuality Bill may not be considered during this sesssion of Parliament.
By phone, Tashobya told me that the committee still has many important bills to get through and when asked about the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, said, “I am not sure if we will get to that one now.”
He did not know when Parliament would be called back to session but felt it would be next week at the earliest. He said he would know more at that time but was now uncertain that there would be time to move the Anti-Homosexuality Bill given the number of other bills to be considered.
This disclosure stands in contrast to Hon. Tashobya’s earlier prediction that the Anti-Homosexuality Bill would be considered very soon after the elections.
For additional posts on Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill, click the link.
Note: For the record, Tashobya, nor I, said the bill has been shelved, if by shelved one means it is no longer possible to bring it up before the end of Parliament’s current session in May. While his statements indeed represent a positive development, it is premature to make a final conclusion based on a couple of sentences from the committee chair. I will have a follow up with Tashobya in a couple of weeks. Then, I think we will know more certainly where things are.
Articles in the UG press suggest that the Bill is still ‘in play’, although one does suggest that other pieces of proposed legislation may take priority.
i am now convinced that the bill has been put through the shredder and will soon be forgotten… it can’t be about time constraints… even if that committee had all the time in the world …october 2009 to march 2011 is close enough to eternity considering the simplicity of the task and the expertise of the committees… i don’t think it was necessary to act incompetent in order to put the bill to sleep. they should have trashed it back in 2009 with the urgency of an efficient committee faced with more pressing issues… just sayin’
I will start taking the above quote seriously when the Her Majesty’s government start applying same pressure to the Saudis and all other pro-Western Gulf Arab States that have harsh sodomy laws in place or when Her Majesty’s government starts bothering the Malaysian government for its current use of a sodomy law to prosecute a prominent politician.
Western governments are bullying African nations because they perceive them to be weaker. Unfortunately, these pressures end up being counter-productive as is the case in Malawi where the Bingu wa Mutharaika led- government tenaciously followed up the prosecution of two sex deviants to reach its logical conclusion, despite six months of unrelenting blackmail and threats by gayism-obsessed Western governments. Recently, the Malawian government called off the bluff of Germany and USA and swiftly expanded the scope of its sodomy laws just like the Burundians did two years earlier.
Thanks for the statistics. But I still insist that you concentrate on the economic problems of UK and let our people worry about that of Uganda. Okay?
1. Nobody should be bashed, but anyone who wants to poke his/her hand into the eyes of the Ugandan people must be punished and fresh legislation is required for that purpose.
2. Read my commentary on this thread with regards to your All Africa.Com news report
This is a matter of opinion. It is your opinion. I may also be of the opinion that your last posting on this thread was actually rude to me, but it is not really important for me to throw tantrums about your “off-the-cuff” remarks.
Again the bill being “vile” and “unnecessary” is your own opinion. As far as I and the vast majority of Ugandans are concerned, that bill (with appropriate amendments) is necessary to contain the emerging militancy of foreign controlled gay sex advocates. The antics of the trouble-makers have to be contained in order to head-off what could potentially provoke social unrest in our culturally conservative nation.
BTW, thanks for your concerns about the state of the Ugandan economy. Having said that, may I suggest that you concentrate on getting your own nation—the UK—out of its own economic doldrums before casting your gaze elsewhere. After all, charity begins at home !
Richard, I wonder why Bahati insists on exposing himself that way… maybe that kind of attention was one of the incentives for introducing such an extreme bill? I heard that Idi Amin was an attention queen… he’d do crazy stuff and then listen for his name on the BBC. Sad.
But yeah, I don’t trust the haters either. The bill might not pass soon, but I bet they got some dirty tricks up their sleeves.
@ anteros
It may be that it was felt that the slowly smothering the Bill was more politically expedient (I can see why – former Botswanan President, Festus Mogae, has said he didn’t legalise same-sex relationships in Botswana for political reasons, even though he had wanted to do so). But it is not yet completely dead, of course. Only once the Eighth Parliament is dissolved will there be some real ‘breathing space’. But there are those who might ‘try again’ (with a more subtle approach) in the Ninth … ‘Maazi NCO’ likes to suggest as much, and I’m sure he has a point.
(Bahati is looking something of a fool these days, after calling out armed police in Kampala because someone told him he was gay, and having an ‘I-want-mass-murder’ tantrum in Johannesburg over a little kiss, but he is far from totally beaten, I suspect.)
‘Maazi’
I see you are back with your customary rudeness (which is really no substitute for reasoned assessment or argument)! But I do think that sensible people in the Ugandan ‘body-politic’ will carefully consider reasoned assessments when it comes to how passing vile and unnecessary legislation might affect the well-being of their country at a time when food prices are soaring.
This sounds to me like a realistic assessment, but we should remain on ‘full alert’, of course.
@ anteros
It’s probably no bad thing that Bahati is drama queen. It does make demolishing his case easier.
There are probably more cunning snakes in the grass, from whom the real danger comes.
We’ll see what happens next. But at least it’s (probably) a long time until the next elections, so the NRM can get on with important matters and not try to court cheap popularity by bashing gays.
Hmmm. I can imagine the mischievous smile on Mr. Chairman’s face when he was responding to questions posed by our desperate US-based pro-gay fighter and blogger who feels the need every now and again to poke his nose into the affairs of a distant nation, especially when he has the US cultural civil war raging in front of him. Talk of a man abandoning his burning house to run after a random squirrel after he spotted it in front of his drive-way.
Nicely cut and simple. I am sure Anteros have experienced wet dreams about this “sweet” scenario.
Dear Richard,
Oh Yes !! We must be on full alert !! —–from the Great City of London in Her Majesty’s United Kingdom !!! I would imagine that you would want to polish your crystal balls well to ensure that they are able to send you clear live East African images from thousands of miles away for the purposes of your “realistic assessment”. I guess your spies (eh, sorry—“contacts”) will complement the crystal ball.
The post to which you refer was arguing that bashing gays is not substitute for proper child protection measures. It was a perfectly fair point, especially given this: http://allafrica.com/stories/200808040078.html
As for the U.K.: food prices have not risen by over 100% in the last few weeks; U.K. inflation is too high (4 – 5% per annum), but in a completely different league. Cuts to U.K. public services will hurt, and I certainly actively oppose some of those (especially in the fields of education and certain social benefits).
Re. Saudi: They could dramatically expand the scope of their anti-gay laws, as Bahitler proposes to do.
Re. Malawi: How do you know that Washington and/or Berlin will restore aid? Are you a member of the U.S. and/or German Government(s)?
Re. Museveni: We’ll see what he does if Bahitler (partially) gets his way in parliament.
Re. refugees: That’s exactly what you would say (you’re something of a propagandist yourself, of course!).
Re. Mozambique: So what?
Re. Botswana: We’ll see what the courts decide (the matter is currently being discussed there).
Re. Festus Mogae: I don’t think he is personally involved in the current court case, but I might be wrong about that.
Re. foreign money for campaigns: Your chum Ssempa used to get quite a lot of that, didn’t he?
Re. Saudi: They could dramatically expand the scope of their anti-gay laws, as Bahitler proposes to do.
Re. Malawi: How do you know that Washington and/or Berlin will restore aid? Are you a member of the U.S. and/or German Government(s)?
Re. Museveni: We’ll see what he does if Bahitler (partially) gets his way in parliament.
Re. refugees: That’s exactly what you would say (you’re something of a propagandist yourself, of course!).
Re. Mozambique: So what?
Re. Botswana: We’ll see what the courts decide (the matter is currently being discussed there).
Re. Festus Mogae: I don’t think he is personally involved in the current court case, but I might be wrong about that.
Re. foreign money for campaigns: Your chum Ssempa used to get quite a lot of that, didn’t he?
How much more “savage” can you make a law which already stipulates death by hanging for sodomy?
It was a bluff because the threats failed to have effect on Malawi. Eventually, the donor aid will be restored because Washington and Berlin understand the virtues of realpolitik and see aid as a means of buying influence in the world. The only countries that can cut aid and stick to it are the Scandinavian countries.
It depends on how you want to interprete the meaning of his words and subsequent actions flowing forth from them.
This is just plain gay propaganda. I shall not devote any time to address such nonsense.
Mozambique is just being the Socialist Internationale country it has always been. Botswana is definitely not moving at all despite the funny “let-prisoners-have-the-condoms” opinions of retired President Festus Mogae. This is a politician, who preached tolerance for gayism in year 2000 and then went on to aggressively fight the sex deviants (he had encouraged) through the court system from 2003 to 2006 to prevent the sodomy law from being struck down. Now, I hear he is encouraging the deviants yet again to make another run against the sodomy law with the money of their western sponsors.
Well, Washington and Berlin have just recently cut aid to Malawi, so it wasn’t actually a bluff, was it? The Burundian laws are mild compared with even current Ugandan ones, let alone the Bahitler Bill. As for Saudi: well, they are not actually proposing to make their laws more savage (under the Bahitlerites in UG), and it is difficult for countries like Britain to apply pressure (other than moral pressure) because – to put it bluntly – Saudi can get by perfectly well without us.
Things may be moving in a different direction in Botswana, and the Mozambiquan Government has recently reiterated its policy of de facto decriminalisation.
Bahitler has made it clear that he intends his ‘murder programme’ to have international significance. Yoweri Museveni is therefore quite right when he admits that the Bahitler Bill has ‘foreign policy implications’. And I’m sure Rwanda, Kenya, et al, don’t want to have to cope with Ugandan refugees from the millions of Ugandans who could be affected in one way or another by the ‘Murder-the-gays-and-anyone-else-who-might-be-remotely-connected-to-gays Bill’. (Let us not forget that ‘serial offenders’ – Ugandans whom Bahitler wishes to see dangling on the end of ropes – do not comprise only gay people, but anyone who contravenes any provision of the Bill on more than one occasion.)
I will start taking the above quote seriously when the Her Majesty’s government start applying same pressure to the Saudis and all other pro-Western Gulf Arab States that have harsh sodomy laws in place or when Her Majesty’s government starts bothering the Malaysian government for its current use of a sodomy law to prosecute a prominent politician.
Western governments are bullying African nations because they perceive them to be weaker. Unfortunately, these pressures end up being counter-productive as is the case in Malawi where the Bingu wa Mutharaika led- government tenaciously followed up the prosecution of two sex deviants to reach its logical conclusion, despite six months of unrelenting blackmail and threats by gayism-obsessed Western governments. Recently, the Malawian government called off the bluff of Germany and USA and swiftly expanded the scope of its sodomy laws just like the Burundians did two years earlier.
I await your ‘fresh legislation’ with trepidation (I think you might find a problem with jurisdictions). Don’t forget that, of you wish to deal with pesky foreigners, it might be a good idea to avoid persecuting your own compatriots (Bahati boobed on this one, didn’t he – his line is ‘it’s all the fault of foreigners, so let’s hang a load of Ugandans’; logic’s not really his strong point, is it?!)
Thanks for the statistics. But I still insist that you concentrate on the economic problems of UK and let our people worry about that of Uganda. Okay?
1. Nobody should be bashed, but anyone who wants to poke his/her hand into the eyes of the Ugandan people must be punished and fresh legislation is required for that purpose.
2. Read my commentary on this thread with regards to your All Africa.Com news report
The post to which you refer was arguing that bashing gays is not substitute for proper child protection measures. It was a perfectly fair point, especially given this: http://allafrica.com/stories/200808040078.html
As for the U.K.: food prices have not risen by over 100% in the last few weeks; U.K. inflation is too high (4 – 5% per annum), but in a completely different league. Cuts to U.K. public services will hurt, and I certainly actively oppose some of those (especially in the fields of education and certain social benefits).
This is a matter of opinion. It is your opinion. I may also be of the opinion that your last posting on this thread was actually rude to me, but it is not really important for me to throw tantrums about your “off-the-cuff” remarks.
Again the bill being “vile” and “unnecessary” is your own opinion. As far as I and the vast majority of Ugandans are concerned, that bill (with appropriate amendments) is necessary to contain the emerging militancy of foreign controlled gay sex advocates. The antics of the trouble-makers have to be contained in order to head-off what could potentially provoke social unrest in our culturally conservative nation.
BTW, thanks for your concerns about the state of the Ugandan economy. Having said that, may I suggest that you concentrate on getting your own nation—the UK—out of its own economic doldrums before casting your gaze elsewhere. After all, charity begins at home !
‘Maazi’
I see you are back with your customary rudeness (which is really no substitute for reasoned assessment or argument)! But I do think that sensible people in the Ugandan ‘body-politic’ will carefully consider reasoned assessments when it comes to how passing vile and unnecessary legislation might affect the well-being of their country at a time when food prices are soaring.
Hmmm. I can imagine the mischievous smile on Mr. Chairman’s face when he was responding to questions posed by our desperate US-based pro-gay fighter and blogger who feels the need every now and again to poke his nose into the affairs of a distant nation, especially when he has the US cultural civil war raging in front of him. Talk of a man abandoning his burning house to run after a random squirrel after he spotted it in front of his drive-way.
Nicely cut and simple. I am sure Anteros have experienced wet dreams about this “sweet” scenario.
Dear Richard,
Oh Yes !! We must be on full alert !! —–from the Great City of London in Her Majesty’s United Kingdom !!! I would imagine that you would want to polish your crystal balls well to ensure that they are able to send you clear live East African images from thousands of miles away for the purposes of your “realistic assessment”. I guess your spies (eh, sorry—“contacts”) will complement the crystal ball.
How much more “savage” can you make a law which already stipulates death by hanging for sodomy?
It was a bluff because the threats failed to have effect on Malawi. Eventually, the donor aid will be restored because Washington and Berlin understand the virtues of realpolitik and see aid as a means of buying influence in the world. The only countries that can cut aid and stick to it are the Scandinavian countries.
It depends on how you want to interprete the meaning of his words and subsequent actions flowing forth from them.
This is just plain gay propaganda. I shall not devote any time to address such nonsense.
Mozambique is just being the Socialist Internationale country it has always been. Botswana is definitely not moving at all despite the funny “let-prisoners-have-the-condoms” opinions of retired President Festus Mogae. This is a politician, who preached tolerance for gayism in year 2000 and then went on to aggressively fight the sex deviants (he had encouraged) through the court system from 2003 to 2006 to prevent the sodomy law from being struck down. Now, I hear he is encouraging the deviants yet again to make another run against the sodomy law with the money of their western sponsors.
Well, Washington and Berlin have just recently cut aid to Malawi, so it wasn’t actually a bluff, was it? The Burundian laws are mild compared with even current Ugandan ones, let alone the Bahitler Bill. As for Saudi: well, they are not actually proposing to make their laws more savage (under the Bahitlerites in UG), and it is difficult for countries like Britain to apply pressure (other than moral pressure) because – to put it bluntly – Saudi can get by perfectly well without us.
Things may be moving in a different direction in Botswana, and the Mozambiquan Government has recently reiterated its policy of de facto decriminalisation.
Bahitler has made it clear that he intends his ‘murder programme’ to have international significance. Yoweri Museveni is therefore quite right when he admits that the Bahitler Bill has ‘foreign policy implications’. And I’m sure Rwanda, Kenya, et al, don’t want to have to cope with Ugandan refugees from the millions of Ugandans who could be affected in one way or another by the ‘Murder-the-gays-and-anyone-else-who-might-be-remotely-connected-to-gays Bill’. (Let us not forget that ‘serial offenders’ – Ugandans whom Bahitler wishes to see dangling on the end of ropes – do not comprise only gay people, but anyone who contravenes any provision of the Bill on more than one occasion.)
I await your ‘fresh legislation’ with trepidation (I think you might find a problem with jurisdictions). Don’t forget that, of you wish to deal with pesky foreigners, it might be a good idea to avoid persecuting your own compatriots (Bahati boobed on this one, didn’t he – his line is ‘it’s all the fault of foreigners, so let’s hang a load of Ugandans’; logic’s not really his strong point, is it?!)
Articles in the UG press suggest that the Bill is still ‘in play’, although one does suggest that other pieces of proposed legislation may take priority.
@ anteros
It’s probably no bad thing that Bahati is drama queen. It does make demolishing his case easier.
There are probably more cunning snakes in the grass, from whom the real danger comes.
We’ll see what happens next. But at least it’s (probably) a long time until the next elections, so the NRM can get on with important matters and not try to court cheap popularity by bashing gays.
Richard, I wonder why Bahati insists on exposing himself that way… maybe that kind of attention was one of the incentives for introducing such an extreme bill? I heard that Idi Amin was an attention queen… he’d do crazy stuff and then listen for his name on the BBC. Sad.
But yeah, I don’t trust the haters either. The bill might not pass soon, but I bet they got some dirty tricks up their sleeves.
@ anteros
It may be that it was felt that the slowly smothering the Bill was more politically expedient (I can see why – former Botswanan President, Festus Mogae, has said he didn’t legalise same-sex relationships in Botswana for political reasons, even though he had wanted to do so). But it is not yet completely dead, of course. Only once the Eighth Parliament is dissolved will there be some real ‘breathing space’. But there are those who might ‘try again’ (with a more subtle approach) in the Ninth … ‘Maazi NCO’ likes to suggest as much, and I’m sure he has a point.
(Bahati is looking something of a fool these days, after calling out armed police in Kampala because someone told him he was gay, and having an ‘I-want-mass-murder’ tantrum in Johannesburg over a little kiss, but he is far from totally beaten, I suspect.)
i am now convinced that the bill has been put through the shredder and will soon be forgotten… it can’t be about time constraints… even if that committee had all the time in the world …october 2009 to march 2011 is close enough to eternity considering the simplicity of the task and the expertise of the committees… i don’t think it was necessary to act incompetent in order to put the bill to sleep. they should have trashed it back in 2009 with the urgency of an efficient committee faced with more pressing issues… just sayin’
This sounds to me like a realistic assessment, but we should remain on ‘full alert’, of course.