Comments on: Ugandan MPs vow to pass Anti-Homosexuality Bill

By: tony

tony — Wed, 30 May 2018 18:16:22 +0000

is it still just a bill or was it passed as law???

By: Warren

Warren — Wed, 30 May 2018 18:16:22 +0000

Maazi – I don’t think I ever said you were joking. Really early on (2009), I thought like most Westeners that Museveni would do what he wanted. However, I have been clear since 2010 that Parliament owned the bill and would act on it.

By: Richard Willmer

Richard Willmer — Wed, 30 May 2018 18:16:22 +0000

By the way: thanks for the early warning, ‘Maazi NCO’. It has helped me to pass on reports (that have later been shown to be true) to FCO officials before the UK High Commission was able to provide a true picture. This has enhanced the credibility of our cause.
But now, I think things will be decided by what goes on behind the scenes in Kampala. Everyone now ‘knows the score’ and I strongly suspect that western governments have taken ‘decisions in principle’ on how to deal with any changed circumstances. I’ll now be taking a little break from public comment – so bye for now.

By: Richard Willmer

Richard Willmer — Wed, 30 May 2018 18:16:22 +0000

(Whoops! That sentence didn’t quite work, did it? Try again!)
On the issue of aid: my hope is that it will not be ‘cut’ if the Bill goes through – but that how it is used, and to whom funds are disbursed, is altered appropriately.
An example: since HIV doesn’t respect international frontiers, the current over-reliance on Ugandan ‘churchlets’ to deliver anti-HIV strategies is perhaps far too ‘parochial’ an approach (and the recent rise in the rate of HIV transmission suggests that this approach has not worked well). Maybe a more ‘regional’ approach would be better, especially if there is some ‘population movement’ as a result of the Bill passing.
I think it would be very wrong if western governments used the Bill as some kind of ‘excuse’ to cut assistance to East Africa generally, though I’m fairly confident that such a ‘general cut’ is not going to happen.

By: Maazi NCO

Maazi NCO — Wed, 30 May 2018 18:16:22 +0000

Obviously, when I was referring to ‘[publically] saying no more’, I was meaning in relation specifically to the Bill and the current politicking in Kampala, and not wit respect to ‘general issues’ like how aid is allocated and strategies to combat the spread of HIV.

Has anyone ever told you that you are a talented comedian. You flip-flop at a faster rate than our rather clownish Ken Kaunda and Raila Odinga. You said you were taking a break and now you are no longer taking one. Then you trot out an excuse to cover your clumsiness. 😀 😀

I think it would be very wrong if western governments used the Bill as some kind of ‘excuse’ to cut assistance to East Africa generally, though I’m fairly confident that such a ‘general cut’ is not going to happen.

Western governments are free to do whatever they want with their money. If they don’t like what we are doing in Parliament of Uganda then they can take their blackmail money and hit the road !!

By: Richard Willmer

Richard Willmer — Wed, 30 May 2018 18:16:22 +0000

I have always taken view that any reduction in assistance to the world’s poorest countries would be deeply regrettable. ‘Refocusing’ resources to reflect changing circumstances would be much better.
And of course western governments do have the freedom to make certain choices concerning how funds are disbursed. We all understand that, I think.

By: Richard Willmer

Richard Willmer — Wed, 30 May 2018 18:16:22 +0000

By ‘final goal’, ‘Maazi NCO’, do you mean Final Solution?
(By the way, unlike you, I don’t conduct my political activities for financial reward.)
Anyway, over and out!

By: Richard Willmer

Richard Willmer — Wed, 30 May 2018 18:16:22 +0000

No he didn’t; and neither did I.
Of course, the idea that the Government is somehow less legitimate that the Parliament is stupid. Most ministers are MPs in their own right, and the President was elected in the same round of elections as the Parliament (either those elections were free and fair – in which case both the President and the Parliament have true legitimacy – or they were not – in which case both are suspect).
Uganda does not have the same kind of clear separation between the executive and legislative branches in the way the USA does.

By: Richard Willmer

Richard Willmer — Wed, 30 May 2018 18:16:22 +0000

Obviously, when I was referring to ‘[publically] saying no more’, I was meaning in relation specifically to the Bill and the current politicking in Kampala, and not wit respect to ‘general issues’ like how aid is allocated and strategies to combat the spread of HIV.
Just on more thing on ‘Maazi NCO’: isn’t is funny how he assumes that people do things only for money (or some other ‘reward’). This is perhaps telling …

By: Maazi NCO

Maazi NCO — Wed, 30 May 2018 18:16:22 +0000

Final Solution

I have already told you that conjuring images of nazism, stalinism, facism and all the other “-isms” is rather pointless. The Parliament of Uganda is NOT in the business of conducting any genocidal programmes. We are not intimidated by this gay propagandist strategy of accusing the representatives of the Ugandan people of being “clones of Adolf Hitler “. We are determined to ensure that gayism remains firmly criminalized here in Uganda. Like I said earlier, you really need to rest a bit. Your fingers may be burning from the beating they have received whenever you furious tap the buttons on your computer keyboard. 🙂 Just make sure the FCO chaps do not cheat you out of your well earned money. You will need money for your vacation 😀 😀