The Sense, and no sense of the anti-homosexuality law

Auma*, 66, is keenly following news about Members of Parliament (MPs) who have signed a petition in support of Uganda’s Anti–Homosexuality law.
She is living with HIV.
Six years ago, a burglar broke into her house.
“I had undertaken several blood tests before that incident. The results had consistently indicated I was HIV–negative. The burglar raped me; most probably, he is the one who infected me,” says Auma, a single mother.
To mitigate the virus, she takes anti–retroviral (ARVs) drugs that she gets from a referral hospital.

The United States (US) government, which is against laws that criminalise homosexuality – because it believes they infringe of civil liberties - writes the cheque for Auma’s ARVs.

Now more than 100 MPs have signed a petition to urge the Speaker of Parliament, Ms Rebecca Kadaga, to itemise the anti-gays law that was assented to by President Museveni in February.
The MPs want to re–pass it.

Their petition comes against the background of the Constitutional Court annulment of the Anti-Homosexuality Act on August 1, 2014.
The court agreed with human rights lawyers’ arguments that Parliament did not have quorum – 125 MPs who are entitled to vote – when it passed the Bill on December 20, 2013.

Many of the MPs have separately said the act would protect Uganda’s cultural and religious values from being eroded by a foreign culture.
The MPs are aware a large section of the public does not support homosexuality.

Many Ugandans have been raised either in Christian or Muslim families. The two faiths preach against homosexuality because it is proscribed by their holy books - the Bible and the Quran.
With the general election two years away, an election in which many of the MPs might be seeking re-election; some MPs could be picking on an issue that will resonate with voters.

“I think the MPs are posturing. They want to be seen to be supporting the [anti–homosexuality] law,” says Dr Frederick Kisekka–Ntale, a political analyst.

“Many Ugandans are highly religious. They could rally behind you if you profess the values they hold dear,” adds Paul Nyende, a lecturer at the Department of Mental Health and Community Psychology, Makerere University.
Dr Kisekka–Ntale says he believes President Museveni is in a dilemma.

“If you look at it in terms of Kadaga’s fast tracking of the Bill and Premier Amama Mbabazi’s concerns about the passaing of the Bill, you will see some mathematics [on the part of the President] in trying to fit into the jigsaw,” says Dr Kisekka–Ntale.

Ms Kadaga Rebecca is the Speaker of Parliament whereas Mr Mbabazi is the Prime Minister and also the Leader of Government Business in Parliament.
Between December 28, 2013 and February 24, 2014, President Museveni has spoken out – first against the manner in which the Bill was passed and against homosexuality.

Despite the lack of quorum, President Museveni went ahead to assent to the Bill.
President Obama’s warning to Museveni that should he assent to the Bill it would complicate US – Uganda relations might have infuriated Museveni.
That could have led him to sign it to prove Uganda is sovereign, and, therefore, would not take orders from the US, says Dr Kisekka–Ntale.

Given the support that the Bill had attracted in Uganda, he adds, President Museveni might have wanted to be part of the party that sanctioned local values at home and also to be seen at the helm of the entire project.

However, in the days leading up to his visit to the US for the US–African Leaders Summit that took place in the early week in Washington, Museveni toned down.
First, he said at a press conference in Kampala that he had not known the Bill had been passed without quorum.

Second, he said the National Resistance Movement (NRM) MPs would discuss the issue.
And when he returned from the US, he urged the party caucus to tread carefully.
Addressing the NRM Parliamentary Caucus at State House Entebbe yesterday, President Museveni, according to a local daily that quoted anonymous sources, told MPs that the law was not a priority for the country’s development even as there was need to protect the family institution.
“A country which has no vision punishes a divided house. We need to work together through consensus and use of collective methods,”
The caucus is yet to pronounce itself on its position.

When contacted for comment, Mr David Bahati, the MP who initiated the Bill in 2009 and is also the NRM caucus deputy spokesperson, told this newspaper he was attending a meeting.

Why Museveni’s change of tune
Dr Christopher Twesigye, a political analyst, says he believes President Obama might have brought up the gay issue when President Museveni was in the US.

“I am sure it is because of international pressure bearing on him that President Museveni wants some of the sections of the anti–gay act to be relooked at or to be deleted,” says Dr Twesigye.
He says the President could be using the caucus for political games.

However, should the caucus support the re-passing of the act, the President will have no choice but to assent to it again, says Dr Twesigye. “My view is that the caucus will pass it.”

What is at stake?
“If he (Museveni) is perceived to have backtracked on his anti–homosexuality stance, he could lose the support of the Ugandans who are against homosexuality,” says Dr Twesigye.
Dr Kisekka–Ntale says the Anti–Homosexuality Act “could be derailed or killed”.
“It might be middle course between local political and international political pressures. If it returns, it could be in a weaker shape,” says Dr Kisekka–Ntale.

There are also considerations about flow of financial aid from the Western countries to Uganda.
Development partners fund a quarter of Uganda’s $4.5 billion (Shs11.7 trillion) national Budget.
In the period leading to the enactment of the anti-homosexuality law, some of the development partners froze financial aid to show their disapproval of the proposed law.

For instance, the government of Norway froze Shs20 billion. The US said it would cancel its support towards the establishment of a Shs7.5 billion public health institute in Uganda.
Separately, Auma started getting fewer drugs, which she believes was as result of the US government reducing financial aid to Uganda to show its displeasure.

One MP believes she was denied a visa to the US because of the anti-gay law.
Mr Nyende says there are fears that, “If homosexuality takes root in Uganda, the human population would be threatened in terms of numbers.”

Auma says homosexuals should not entice people who are not naturally homosexuals into homosexuality. She also adds that MPs should stop playing politics because for them they can afford ARVs, unlike poor Ugandans living with HIV/Aids.

Auma* name changed to protect the identity of the subject

TIT BITs
About 400, 000 Ugandans living with HIV/AIDS get ARVs have been paid for by the US government.
The gay issue is just as strong a political issue in the US as it is in Uganda. In the US, the push to recognise gays picked up when Mr Bill Clinton was the president. It is believed that gay–rights activists had contributed to his election campaign. The US surprisingly – in Africa’s context – outlaws polygamy.
In Uganda, due to religious reasons, the public is largely against homosexuality.

what is the anti-gays bill all about

The Uganda Anti-Homosexuality Act, 2014 (previously called the “Kill the Gays bill” in the Western mainstream media due to the originally proposed death penalty clauses) was passed by Parliament of Uganda on 20 December 2013 with the death penalty proposal dropped in favour of life in prison. The Bill was signed into law by President Museveni on February 24, 2014.

The legislative proposal would broaden the criminalisation of same-sex relations in Uganda domestically, and further includes provisions for Ugandans who engage in same-sex relations outside of Uganda, asserting that they may be extradited for punishment back to Uganda, and includes penalties for individuals, companies, media organisations, or non-governmental organisations that know of gay people or support LGBT rights.

The private member’s bill was submitted by Member of Parliament David Bahati on October 14, 2009. Same-sex relationships are currently illegal in Uganda—as they are in many sub-Saharan African countries—punishable by incarceration for up to 14 years.

flow of events
October 14, 2009: Ndorwa West MP David Bahati tables the Anti-Homosexuality Bill of 2009.
December 29, 2009: Pastor Martin Ssempa announces a nationwide rally for January 19, 2010 in support of the bill.

2010
January 12, 2010: President Museveni calls for “extreme caution” over the bill.
February 4, 2010: US President Barack Obama denounces as “odious” the anti-gay law in Uganda.
June 9, 2010: Former Anglican Bishop Christopher Senyonjo blames US Christian evangelical groups for fomenting anti-gay hatred in his native country.

2011
November 1, 2011: Ugandans tell off UK Premier David Cameron over threats that he intends to slash aid for Kampala over abuse of homosexuals’ rights.

2012
October 2012: Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga tells off Canada’s Foreign Minister John Baird over gay rights at a meeting.
October 2012: UK PM David Cameron warns African countries that those receiving British aid should respect gay rights.
November 15, 2012: Speaker Rebecca Kadaga said that Parliament will pass the bill as a Christmas gift.
November 16, 2012: Kadaga directs the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee to present the Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2011.
November 23, 2012: The death penalty provision in the anti-gay bill is dropped.
December 12, 2012: Dozens of gay activists storm the Ugandan embassy in London protesting the Bill.
December 17, 2012: President Yoweri Museveni says during the installation of Archbishop Stanley Ntagali that gay people should not be killed or persecuted, as parliament considers an Anti-Homosexuality Bill, but warned homosexuality should also not be promoted as a good thing, either.

2013
December 20, 2013: Parliament passes the Anti-Homosexuality Bill.
December 23, 2013: Gay rights activists in Uganda vowed to “fight to the end” to stop a draconian anti-homosexuality bill passed by Parliament from becoming law in the African nation.
December 25, 2013: President says he will first peruse through the anti-gays Bill before signing it into law.

2014
January 7, 2014: PM Amama Mbabazi tells Uganda’s foreign envoys that the NRM caucus will review the Bill.
January 26, 2014: President Museveni tells NRM Caucus meeting that he will only sign the Anti-Homosexuality Bill after scientists have proved to him that it is a normal behaviour.
February 16, 2014: President Museveni says he is ready to assent to the Anti-Homosexuality Bill because there was no scientific evidence that homosexuality was genetic or natural.

February 17, 2014: President Museveni says he is ready to battle with “outside groups” sympathetic to homosexuals.

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