Category: uganda

Uganda updates: Hearings continue on Anti-Homosexuality Bill

UPDATE 5 (Tuesday, May 10) – I started another post for the developments today. Go to that post for the latest…
UPDATE 4: This petition against the Anti-Homosexuality Bill (AHB) has 100,000 200,000 signatures; check it out and sign on. Also, tweet this post with the designation #Uganda.
All eyes will be on Stephen Tashobya’s Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee tomorrow. If the committee’s report on the AHB is completed and presented to the Speaker of the House Edward Ssekandi, then the ball will be in Ssekandi’s court. He could then call the bill to the floor on Wednesday for a second and third reading. If the report is not presented tomorrow then there will not be time to bring the bill forward within the time allotted by Ssekandi for Parliament’s business (Wednesday, May 11). In order for the AHB to be considered, Ssekandi would need to call the Parliament together on Friday, the 13th or next week when the new Parliament is being sword in. Technically, the 8th Parliament is in session until the 18th.
As it stands, opponents of the AHB could have a constitutional basis for challenging the bill if it indeed becomes law. The Ugandan legislative procedures require bills to be reported out of committee within 45 days, unless extra time was sought from Parliament. Although such time may have been requested, I can find no record of it on any of the order papers. The bill has been in committee since October 14, 2009.
Via BoxTurtleBulletin, the Ugandan Human Rights Coalition just released a statement about the bill and their testimony today.
UPDATE 3: Here is a report from a San Diego paper which quotes Bishop Senyonjo speaking about his experienced in today’s hearings.
UPDATE 2: The AP just released a story which summarizes the situation after the end of hearings today. The next step is for the committee chair Stephen Tashobya to write a report from the hearings. Tashobya is quoted as saying he would have the report completed by tomorrow. However, he just told me a few minutes ago that he cannot promise to complete the report by tomorrow. He did say that he would complete the report before the end of Parliament which is the 18th of May. When I asked him how the Parliament could vote on a bill in this manner, he said that the Speaker (Edward Ssekandi) makes those decisions. Theoretically, the Speaker could call Parliament into session anytime before May 18 for a vote on any left over bills.
According to Tashobya, the Company bill did not pass today, and the Procurement bill was pushed to tomorrow, thus making it even more difficult for any new bills to come to the floor before Speaker Ssekandi’s end of official business date of May 11. The AHB coming to the floor appears to hinge on the completion of the committee report by Mr. Tashobya  sometime tomorrow and the Speaker’s willingness to bring it to the floor on Wednesday. If this does not happen, the Speaker would have to call the MPs together sometime during the festivities of the Presidential inauguration and the swearing in of the new Parliament on the 18th.
UPDATE: I just spoke with LGBT advocate Brian Nkoyooyo (about 5pm there) who was in the hearings today. He said that the Human Rights Commission, Sexual Minorities Uganda and the Coalition on Human Rights presented testimony in opposition to the bill. The hearings are still being held, although he did not know who else intended to testify. He was not sure if hearings would take place tomorrow but believed that the bill could come to the Parliament for discussion by Wednesday.
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Throughout the day, I will post information as I get it regarding the status of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill.  Today, opponents of the bill were supposed to testify.
Saturday, the Speaker of the Ugandan Parliament, Edward Ssekandi said that business would wrap up on Wednesday. He sounded unsure about the fate of the AHB, and would not guarantee that it would get a vote.

The Parliament winds up with debate on several bills, some of them controversial, pending.
These include the Domestic Relations Bill, the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, the HIV Bill, Procurement Amendment Bill and the Company Act.
We want to ensure that at least two, especially the procurement and the company bills, are passed before we wind up,” Ssekandi said.

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“Many MPs also want the Domestic Relations Bill to be passed because it has delayed for over 40 years. I don’t know whether we shall be able to pass it because the committee has not yet given me its report,” he said.

For the AHB to get a vote, the hearings would need to end today, a report be submitted to the Speaker by tomorrow leading to action on Wednesday. The two bills Ssekandi said had priority, the procurement and company bills. were slated for third readings and a vote today, according to the Parliament’s agenda. If those are out of the way, then there could be time for the remaining bills. According to the agenda, the HIV Control bill is to be read a second time tomorrow. The Domestic bill and the AHB could be read on Wednesday.
I add updates as I get them.
For two years of coverage on the AHB, click this link.

Uganda report: Testimony in anti-gay bill to conclude Monday

As the closing of the 8th Parliament looms, two early supporters of Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill continue to promote passage of the bill. Martin Ssempa and Stephen Langa both testified Friday before the Legal and  Parliamentary Affairs committee. A website called Weinformers provide more information about their message and also reports that hearings will conclude on Monday.
According to this report, Ssempa advocated the removal of the death penalty because it is not a “behavioral corrective measure.” However, he did not object to life in prison. Despite the fact that Ugandan law already addresses the defilement of both boys and girls, Ssempa continued to allege it does not.
The Weinformers article also reports that the bill is likely to get a vote before the end of the Parliament.
Langa, also testifying on Friday, sounded many of the same themes. Langa was the prime organizer of a conference on homosexuality in March 2009 which featured Scott Lively, Caleb Brundidge, and Don Schmierer. The conference whipped up public support for tougher laws against homosexuality. Although in the works prior to the conference, the Anti-Homosexuality Bill was first mentioned in Parliament the following month in April, 2009.
Both Langa and Ssempa have had extensive American connections, although Ssempa’s have withered away over the last year. He resigned his post as member of the Board of Reference at Oral Roberts University and was dropped as a missionary by Canyon Ridge Christian Church in Las Vegas, NE. Langa is the Director of the Uganda branch of the Arizona based Disciple Nations Alliance.
On Saturday, I spoke with Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee chair Stephen Tashobya who confirmed that hearings would be held on Monday with report writing to come. However, he declined to predict whether the AHB would make it to a vote.
Related: David Bahati: Hearings took place today on Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill

David Bahati: Hearings took place today on Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Bill

Today, public hearings on Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill took place before the Parliamentary and Legal Affairs Committee, according to the bill author, David Bahati. In an interview, Bahati said that the Uganda Law Reform Commission and several religious leaders were on the list of those slated to provide testimony. He added, “I know that the process of legislation is moving forward.”
Bahati declined to say that the bill would be voted on next week, saying that the actual end of Parliament is not until May 18 when the 9th Parliament also begins. According to Charles Tuhaise, a researcher for parliament’s research office, most of the business will be concluded by the end of next week. He told me that the hearings for the Marriage and Divorce Bill have concluded and those for the Anti-Homosexuality Bill began today. In addition to the Law Reform Commission, those providing testimony today included the Attorney General’s Office, Martin Ssempa and Stephen Langa’s Family Life Network.  Tuhaise said the antigay bill hearings will probably conclude on Monday with the NGO Coalition on Human Rights and Constitutional Law being one group on the agenda.
The fate of the antigay measure has been uncertain since it was introduced on October 14, 2009. From the beginning, the bill had support from the public as well as from religious and political leaders. However, legislative progress on the bill was slowed by massive international opposition. Contrary to false reports that the bill had been shelved, it has remained before a Ugandan parliamentary committee. In December, 2010, committee chair Stephen Tashobya told me that he hoped to move the Anti-Homosexuality Bill through his committee in time for a vote before the end of Parliament. Tashobya also said that the hearings would precede a vote.
Bahati also told me that a resolution he offered to call for common ground between the government and opposition leaders was adopted by Parliament during today’s session. The bipartisan resolution was offered in the wake of protests over inflation and the violent response from the government.
See also: Hearings may be taking place.
And then there is this just out on NTV. Sounds like Tashobya is pushing to get it a vote.

Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Bill: Hearings may be happening now

A report from blogger Gay Uganda indicates that hearings on the Anti-Homosexuality Bill may be taking place now in a committee of Uganda’s Parliament.
Other sources tell me that the bill is certainly not dead, even with the unrest which has rocked the country over food prices. Gay Uganda believes the bill could be used as a distraction from the rioting. In any case, there is concern among GBLT advocates there that the bill could be scheduled for vote next week. If hearings are indeed taking place, then the Committee could fast track the bill to the floor on Monday or Tuesday. The Parliament is slated to end on May 11, with the Presidential inauguration on May 12.

AP report: Bahati says death penalty to be dropped from antigay bill – UPDATED

He told me this months ago, but Bahati seems to be wanting to get some attention back on Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill.
at 11:25 on April 26, 2011, EDT.

AP Interview: Death penalty provision in Uganda’s anti-homosexual bill likely to be dropped
The Associated Press

KAMPALA, Uganda – The Ugandan parliamentarian behind an anti-homosexual bill that attracted worldwide condemnation says the most controversial part of the proposed legislation — the death penalty provision — is likely to be dropped.
David Bahati says if the committee the bill currently sits before recommends that the provision be removed, that he would concede the issue.
Stephen Tashobya, the chairman of the parliament’s Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee, said Tuesday that he would try to bring the bill up for a vote before parliament’s current session ends May 12.
After Bahati’s bill was proposed in 2009, it attracted international condemnation, including from President Barack Obama. The bill has since languished in committee.
 

UPDATE: The full AP article is much longer than this short version.
Read it here.
It does sound like Stephen Tashobya intends to get the bill a vote. Given the information, I have been getting from close to the Cabinet, this will not be viewed favorably by the ruling party. An alternative view is that a focus on homosexuality might take the minds of the people off of the recent riots and arrests of opposition party leaders.