Museveni sends anti-gay law back to Parliament
Members of Parliament are seen during plenary on March 21, 2023 as the House debated the controversial anti-gay bill. PHOTO/HANDOUT
What you need to know:
- According to government chief whip Hamson Obua, President Museveni agreed with MPs to sign the Bill into law after some improvements to facilitate its strengthening.
- Since its passing in March 2023, the anti-LGBTQ Bill had attracted condemnation owing to its tougher penalties for people identifying as LGBTQ.
Ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) parliamentary caucus has resolved “to send back the Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2023 to parliament with proposals for improvement.”
On Thursday, government chief whip Denis Hamson Obua said President Museveni agreed with NRM legislators- to sign the Bill into law after the improvements anticipated to make it tougher.
"Before that is done, we also agree that the Bill will be returned in order to facilitate the reinforcement and the strengthening of some provisions in line with our best practices," Obua was quoted by news agency Reuters.
The resolution was reached following Mr Museveni's keynote address to the NRM parliamentary caucus on the controversial legislation passed by Parliament on March 21.
NRM party says the April 20 decision came after “exhaustively examining all related issues and reviewing previous discussions on the subject.”
A brief statement shared on Twitter by NRM's Communications director Emmanuel Dombo suggested that caucus’ “advise” to the president involved an undisclosed number of independent lawmakers working with the party.
At least 389 MPs, mostly those belonging to NRM, attended in-person while about four-dozen others followed proceedings via Zoom as the House adopted the controversial Anti-Homosexuality Bill, 2023 in March.
By Thursday, the Bill was still awaiting President Museveni's assent to become law
