Tag: David bahati

Uganda: Leaders give mixed signals over procedures for Anti-Homosexuality Bill

Earlier this week, gay advocacy website Behind the Mask quoted James Mukaga, a clerk assistant to the Parliament, as saying that MP David Bahati would need to get a statement of financial impact from the Minister of Finance in order to proceed with the Anti-Homosexuality Bill. Mukaga said that the hurdle might now be difficult to clear since Uganda’s Cabinet ministers recently declared their opposition to the bill.
However, Bahati presented such a statement to Parliament when he first introduced the bill on October 14, 2009, as noted in the official minutes.

BILLS FIRST READING
THE ANTI-HOMOSEXUALITY BILL, 2009
MR DAVID BAHATI (NRM, Ndorwa County West, Kabale) I beg to move that the Bill entitled, The Anti-Homosexuality Bill, 2009 be read for the first time.
THE DEPUTY SPEAKER: It is seconded. Do you have the Certificate of Financial Implications?
MR BAHATI: In fulfilment of rule 102, I would like to lay on the Table the Certificate of Financial Implications duly signed by the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development and issued on 10 September 2009.
THE DEPUTY SPEAKER: The Bill is committed to the Committee on Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, but owing to its multifaceted nature, other committees can team up to facilitate the progress of the Bill. Thank you very much.

The bill’s immediate future hinges on what current Speaker Rebecca Kadaga requires for action on the floor. According to MP Otto Odonga, Speaker Kadaga will not require MP Bahati to reintroduce the AHB. Parliament spokesperson, Helen Kawesa, also told me that the next step for the bill is a second reading and floor debate.
If Speaker Kadaga allows the bill to be considered by Parliament without reintroduction, then the requirement for a statement from the Minister of Finance has already been satisfied. If the Speaker requires reintroduction, then Mr. Bahati might have to start from scratch with an initial motion to introduce the bill followed by the tabling of a new bill for the first of three required readings. The new bill would be assigned to a committee again with hearings and a new report prior to the second reading.
As of now, there is no indication that Speaker Kadaga will require Bahati to reintroduce the AHB. If the bill is taken up by the Parliament as is, then the next step is a second reading and floor discussion. At this point, the bill could be amended.
Behind the Mask also reported that Legal and Parliamentary Affairs committee chair Stephen Tashobya said his committee would meet September 7th to decide what bills to consider before the Christmas holiday. Tashobya declined to predict whether or not the AHB would be among those bills.

Uganda's Cabinet and Parliament At Odds Over Anti-gay Bill

Today, in the face of reports that Uganda’s Cabinet tossed out the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, Parliament spokesperson, Helen Kawesa, said that the bill “is in the Parliament now. It’s Parliament’s property.” She added the Cabinet ministers will “have to argue it out in the Parliament” since the bill is controlled by Parliament and has not yet had a vote.
Kawesa added, “If the Cabinet has issues with it, they will be brought in to the floor of the House.”
Currently, budget meetings are on the agenda but a budget is slated to get a vote by next Wednesday. After that, other business, including the anti-gay bill could be considered. As of now, according to Kawesa, there is no official action scheduled for the Anti-Homosexuality Bill but she said the bill could come up at any time after the budget has been passed.
In 2010, a Cabinet committee chaired by Adolf Mwesige called for removal of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill and made recommendations to enforce existing law. Those recommendations were detailed in a report to Parliament. Many observers believed at the time that the bill had been shelved. However, the bill remained under the jurisdiction of the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs committee. That committee then wrote a report recommending that the bill be passed. However, for reasons that remain unknown, the Parliament placed the bill on the daily agenda but then failed to act on the measure. Currently, the bill remains in the hands of Parliament and is one of several measures considered in the last session which is alive in this session.

Uganda's Cabinet urges Parliament to drop anti-gay bill; encourages enforcement of existing law

Uganda’s Cabinet Minister’s have urged Parliament and MP David Bahati to drop the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, according to the Daily Monitor. Bahati declined to do so, saying the bill is now the property of Parliament. Here the entire story:

Cabinet has finally thrown out the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, 2009 on the advice of Mr Adolf Mwesige, the ruling party lawyer. However, Ndorwa West MP David Bahati, the architect of the Bill, insists the proposed legislation is now property of Parliament and that the Executive should stop “playing hide- and- seek games” on the matter.
The decision to throw out the Anti-Homosexuality Bill was made at a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday where Mr Mwesige, according to sources, told ministers that the Bill was unnecessary since government has a number of laws in place criminalising homosexual activities.
“We agreed that government should search the law archives and get some of the laws, enforce them rather than having another new piece of legislation,” a source said. “He [Mwesige] said the Bill is overtaken by events and that donors and other sections of the public were not comfortable.”
The Bill seeks to criminalise all same-sex relations in the country and proposes the death penalty for sodomy. Mr Bahati and his group maintain that the country should have stronger laws against homosexuality in order to protect the moral fabric that holds society intact.
“The future of this country’s children will be determined by the peoples’ representatives in Parliament,” Mr Bahati said during a phone interview on Saturday.

It is not clear whether or not this action will effectively kill the bill. In 2010, a Cabinet committee led by Adolf Mwesige recommended that the bill be dropped for essentially the same reasons. However, it was not dropped at that time, even though Mwesige was confident that it would be shelved.
Even though the bill might be slowed by the Cabinet’s reluctance to push ahead, Mwesige also called for enforcement of existing law (prohibition of unnatural carnal knowledge). If so, Uganda’s GLBT community could still face a worsening situation going forward.

Ugandan MP says new anti-gay bill could be law soon

After a tumultuous end to business in the last session involving the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, the current Ninth Parliament of Uganda continues to organize itself for business. Last week, committees were formed and rules or order are being devised.  Jockeying for power and influence occupy the efforts of those in the ruling party and those in the opposition.
Lawmaking is probably a month away but one legislator is predicting that a re-introduced Anti-Homosexuality Bill will be law within two months. Otto Odonga, a member of the committee which Legal and Parliamentary Affairs committee in the 8th and now again in the 9th Parliament told me via Skype that he expects David Bahati to reintroduce the bill as soon as possible. He predicted that the bill will come to the floor of Parliament as soon as rules allow.
“It will be expedited this time around and passed within one, maybe two months time,” the MP said. Odonga also told me that Stephen Tashobya, the chair of the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs committee, was re-appointed to that same post in the new Parliament. While Bahati will need to start from scratch on the bill, the committee will be able to use the report issued last session as a basis for their work this time around. That report called for minimal changes and retained the death penalty for certain offenses. Odonga said the bill has wide support in the Parliament.
As a follow up on a prior story, Odonga also said that David Bahati was selected to be the coordinator of the Parliamentary Prayer Fellowship.

Antigay bill author David Bahati chair of parliamentary prayer fellowship

In another sign that David Bahati’s stock continues to rise in Uganda, Bahati presided over the recent opening parliamentary prayer fellowship dinner as chairman. From the New Vision:

The chairman of the parliamentary fellowship, David Bahati, said the caucus of God is bigger than all other caucuses and does not discriminate against political affiliations.
The parliamentary fellowship was founded in 1986 by the late Hon. Balaki Kirya, and has since 1991 been organising a prayer breakfast on every October 8.
Bahati said the fellowship, initiated some bills like the Anti- Homosexuality and Anti-Pornography believes in a God led country and God led policies.

Bahati here locates the Anti-Homosexuality Bill in the agenda of the Uganda Fellowship. Bahati’s position is contrary to the American group and that Bahati’s continued advocacy is a source of frustration for the Fellowship.