Uganda Television Reports on Anti-Homosexuality Bill; Bahati talks to the press

NTV has been keeping up with the developments on the AHB:

Nice to see more even coverage.

Bahati has also been talking to the press, this time in the UK telling the Guardian that the Legal and Parliamentary Committee has 45 days to report back to Parliament with a report. This is in keeping with Parliament’s rules for handling a bill. Bahati also says that a number of changes have been agreed to in advance of the second reading, including removal of the death penalty and a reduction of the life sentence.

Given this report from the Legal and Parliamentary Committee from last May, I will not believe anything he says until I see it.

6 thoughts on “Uganda Television Reports on Anti-Homosexuality Bill; Bahati talks to the press”

  1. From the Guardian article:

    ‘ “We are reducing the prison sentences to two to seven years. Even the life imprisonment is not there,” [Bahati] told the Guardian by telephone from Uganda, adding that the bill would take into account what “other people say”. ‘

    So where’s the draft proposal for this? And does this ‘oh-so-generous gesture’ also relate to sexual assault? (Two to seven years for raping a child seems pretty feeble to me … what’s happened to this ‘protecting children’ stuff all of a sudden? Answer: It was never part of the programme in the first pace.)

    Also from the article:-

    ‘ “It was really scary and traumatising, seeing MPs from the opposition camp and the incumbent camp cheering the bill and calling it ‘our bill’,” said Onziema, who is transgender. ‘

    Onziema is very courageous. I take my hat off to her – I really do.

  2. From the Guardian article:

    ‘ “We are reducing the prison sentences to two to seven years. Even the life imprisonment is not there,” [Bahati] told the Guardian by telephone from Uganda, adding that the bill would take into account what “other people say”. ‘

    So where’s the draft proposal for this? And does this ‘oh-so-generous gesture’ also relate to sexual assault? (Two to seven years for raping a child seems pretty feeble to me … what’s happened to this ‘protecting children’ stuff all of a sudden? Answer: It was never part of the programme in the first pace.)

    Also from the article:-

    ‘ “It was really scary and traumatising, seeing MPs from the opposition camp and the incumbent camp cheering the bill and calling it ‘our bill’,” said Onziema, who is transgender. ‘

    Onziema is very courageous. I take my hat off to her – I really do.

  3. By the way, I would say a big “WELL DONE NTV!” The piece indicates very effectively the full horror of Bahati’s proposals, and nails the lie that ‘protecting children’ is the aim of the Bill.

  4. Bahati said this kind of thing last spring, but then Tashobya-Odonga (those two are both on the LPAC) just fiddled with words and took out the bits the could have never been enforced anyway.

    Warren is quite right: words are just words … and, in these kinds of situation, often have little or nothing to do with (intended) deeds.

  5. By the way, I would say a big “WELL DONE NTV!” The piece indicates very effectively the full horror of Bahati’s proposals, and nails the lie that ‘protecting children’ is the aim of the Bill.

  6. Bahati said this kind of thing last spring, but then Tashobya-Odonga (those two are both on the LPAC) just fiddled with words and took out the bits the could have never been enforced anyway.

    Warren is quite right: words are just words … and, in these kinds of situation, often have little or nothing to do with (intended) deeds.

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