Month: February 2012

What’s Next for Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill?

Click here for the current official text of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill.

This morning AFP news service has an article that correctly reports the story about the bill, amendments and the process involved.

Parliament officials said Thursday that the bill — which US President Barack Obama has described as “odious” — had been reintroduced in its original format, which included the death penalty clause.

Bahati continues to say he will recommend the removal of the death sentence for aggravated homosexuality.

A Ugandan lawmaker behind a proposed draconian anti-gay bill that sparked an international outcry said Friday he wanted to drop clauses that would see the death penalty introduced for certain homosexual acts.

“There will be no death penalty at all…that will go,” David Bahati, the legislator who formulated the bill, told AFP.

As expected, Bahati will recommend the removal of the requirement to report known gay people. However, he wants to zero in on “promotion.”

Bahati said the bill was now focused on stopping the promotion of gay rights, and retains a proposal to criminalise public discussion of homosexuality with a heavy prison sentence.

Here is the section in the existing bill on promotion of homosexuality:

The way this is worded, landlords will not be able to rent to gays, most public establishments will be reluctant to serve more than one gay person at a time, if at all. Gay people using cell phones or the internet (bloggers, emailing, etc.) will be in jeopardy. The potential for use of police power to snoop on private citizens is heightened and the potential to use this law to accuse enemies of promoting homosexuality seems clear. While this seems to be intended to put GLB rights groups out of business, the reach goes far beyond those groups.

Although the reporting requirement has been dropped, I don’t think health care professionals are in the clear. If they give advice to a GLBT person that affirms them, then I believe the way this aspect of the bill is worded, then they might violate the very broad language here.

This clearly violates freedom of conscience for those who are gay and those who are not. If a religious leader is convinced that GLBT persons should be treated with respect and dignity, then they could be viewed as engaging in promotion.

I hope the watching world is not thrown off by the possible removal of the death sentence. This effort remains sinister and has the effect of violation of freedom of conscience and other basic human rights.

Related:

 

 

Current Official Text of Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009

This morning Helen Kawesa, Public Relations Manager for the Uganda Parliament provided this copy of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill which was introduced on Tuesday. As you will see, it is the same bill as was printed in Uganda Gazette on September 25, 2009 and then first tabled on October 14, 2009. Click the screen capture to go to the Gazette copy.

To date, the bill has not been amended and this is the version re-introduced on February 7, 2012.

This morning AFP news service has an article that correctly reports the story about the bill, amendments and the process involved.

Parliament officials said Thursday that the bill — which US President Barack Obama has described as “odious” — had been reintroduced in its original format, which included the death penalty clause.

Bahati continues to say he will recommend the removal of the death sentence for aggravated homosexuality.

A Ugandan lawmaker behind a proposed draconian anti-gay bill that sparked an international outcry said Friday he wanted to drop clauses that would see the death penalty introduced for certain homosexual acts.

“There will be no death penalty at all…that will go,” David Bahati, the legislator who formulated the bill, told AFP.

However, it remains to be seen whether or not the Parliament will alter the bill in the way Bahati now proposes. Two sources within Parliament have informed me that the MPs will be inclined to agree with recommendations made by Bahati and the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs committee. If he can be believed, Bahati’s strategy seems to have shifted to making it dangerous for GLBT people communicate or gather. More on this in the next post…

Video of Introduction of Anti-Homosexuality Bill in Uganda’s Parliament

The camera lens stays in the gallery, but you can hear the clerk announce the Tuesday tabling of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill at 11 seconds followed by cheering. Then David Bahati speaks and introduces the bill at about 32 seconds into the video, beginning, “Madame Speaker…”

Can you imagine being the object of the effort to jail or end your life while the cheering is taking place?

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.

Uganda Monitor: $300 Million Lost to Corruption Per Year; Much Foreign Aid Gets Into Wrong Hands

While the Ugandan Parliament sounds a defiant tone to threats of removal of donor aid over the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, the government would be hard pressed to make up the loss of funds. According to this Monitor (Uganda) report, Uganda relies on funds from donor nations to account for 29% of the national budget. A significant portion of money, $300 million, is lost to corruption according to the World Bank.

On point, The Monitor also recently revealed that MPs get the equivalent of just over$44,000 to purchase a car. This news sparked outrage among civil society in Uganda. The Monitor reported:

Outpourings of disbelief mixed with anger at a House which has been applauded for taking a firm stand against waste in government clouded the re-opening of Parliament as members struggled to defend themselves.

Civil society leaders described the MPs’ gleeful acceptance of the cash as “greed of the highest order”.

“This issue of the vehicles for MPs shows that the 9th Parliament is no different from the rest. It is a shame that they too have turned into vultures,” the Executive Director Anti-Corruption Coalition Uganda, Ms Cissy Kagaba, said.

“These MPs should walk the talk about being pro-people. The opposition too shouldn’t be part of the loot. This money should be returned and used to increase teachers’ salaries.”

Such public extravagance might concern American taxpayers who are also tightening their belts amid a bleak economy and are worried that their dollars support a government poised to impose the death penalty on HIV positive gay people, with life in prison for others. In fiscal year 2010, the United States pledged over $382 million in economic aid. That does not include over $36 million in military aid. Overall, Uganda is within the top 25 recipients of American foreign assistance.

While donor nations have a significant investment in Uganda and the region, there might be a point at which the American public will voice concern. A lack of respect for basic human rights, corruption and cronyism are factors that may work together to extend the budget tightening from here to Uganda.