Humanist

The writing was on the wall. It was a forgone conclusion that Gen. Yoweri Kagutta Museveni, in his capacity as the President of Uganda, was going to sign the Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2023 in to law. And he did so on Monday, 28^th May 2023. There was no other way for him, but to sign it. In fact, some speculate that it was the plan all along – a political strategy, if you will. Sadly, though, one that has significant negative consequences on the lives of many Ugandans.

If he did not sign the bill into law, Gen. Museveni would have lost face among Uganda’s morally panicked electorate. It is believed, in fact, that he signed the bill into law while he knows it is not the end of it. Some of the content of the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023 is grounds for it to be struck down by the Constitutional Court. Indeed, legal challenges of it have begun, the first within hours of the announcement that Gen. Museveni had signed the bill into law.

By signing the bill, Gen. Museveni projects himself among the panicked electorate as a tough president who did his job and stood firm against ‘external pressure’. “Opposing Museveni’s Moral Panic – Uganda’s shocking “Anti-Homosexuality Bill may have been delayed, but the fight is far from over,” is a good read for those who want to further appreciate the ‘external pressure’ versus ‘internal pressure’ dynamics at play that contextualize Gen. Museveni’s decision to sign the bill into law.

Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023 is in place and it is the law of the land, for now. Members of Parliament and Uganda’s Cabinet are oddly celebrating their victory, amidst push back from active citizens of Uganda and the world. Case in point, the celebratory tweet by Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng Ocero and the responses to it:

Dr. Aceng Ocero, is the Minister of the Uganda Ministry of Health. The tweet which she shared with a her own thoughts added has since been “deleted by the author.” According to Twitter, the author of the deleted tweet was Anita Annet Among, the Speaker of the Parliament of Uganda. It is valid to speculate that the Speaker deleted her original tweet because of the push back the enactment of the law is receiving.

BK Titanji’s response to Dr. Aceng Ocero’s tweet is an example of the bush back and which demonstrates a major reason for the bush back against the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023. Titanji tweeted:

Tinjani’s response to Dr. Aceng Ocero conveys a valid concern not only for members of the lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) communities; but also for many Ugandans now expected to police their neighbour.

“The passing of this discriminatory bill -– probably among the worst of its kind in the world –- is a deeply troubling development.”

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk

The authoritarianism built into the bill and now the Act is mind-blowing. Take for instance, criminalizing Ugandans who choose to mind their own business and not report to the authorities what consenting homosexual adults do in their private spaces. It is indeed baffling for many in Uganda, why the obsession with branding homosexuality as a crime.

Particularly so, amidst Uganda’s reality of tens of thousands of children and women being sexually abused by heterosexual men annually. This sad state of affairs is captured in ICY’s tweet in response to Dr. Aceng Ocero’s celebratory tweet:

ICY’s observations are backed by official government empirical data. According to the latest Uganda Police Crime Report, cases reported to the police of “Unnatural Sex Offences,” under which homosexual sex acts are categorized, increased by three from 80 in 2021 to 83 in 2022. Is an increase of three cases in the whole country worth the moral panic that accompanied and justified the revival of the Anti-Homosexuality bill now an Act? It is indeed valid to ask:

What empirical data validates the assertion that there is an alarming increase in homosexual acts in Uganda?

Contextualize this within the fact that according to the Police Crime Report, in 2022, there were 12,780 defilement victims. Since defilement is not categorized under “Unnatural Sex” it is valid to assume that the victims defiled were heterosexually defiled. In which case, in 2022, heterosexual men defiled 12,470 female juveniles and heterosexual women defiled 310 male juveniles. Click here to read more analyses of the Police Crime Report 2023.

No wonder, many in Uganda are baffled by the seeming moral dishonesty of our leaders’ claim that the biggest danger to Uganda’s children is homosexuality. It is not. Malnutrition, for example, is among the biggest, if not the biggest danger to the wellbeing of Uganda’s children. Julius Mpagi, case in point, in his response to the Minister, pointed out:

“Malnutrition threatens to destroy a generation of children in Uganda. More than one third of all young children – 2.4 million – are stunted. The damage caused by stunting is irreversible.”

UNICEF – Uganda

Which begs the question, whose interests are our political leaders serving? Have they forgotten that they are public servants elected and appointed into those position to serve in a government of the people by the people?

Logically, it could be argued, they lost their moral authority when they chose to focus disproportionate energy and resources on passing and enacting a draconian and discriminatory law; while at the same time not paying attention to ensuring more important needs, such as food and nutrition security for Uganda’s women and children. It explains why many are aligned with the minority legislators, such as Hon. Fox Odoi, who oppose the Anti-Homosexuality act.

“I don’t want anyone to hurt my children. I expect everyone to protect their rights, and so I have a duty to protect other people’s children.”

Hon. Fox Odoi-Oywelowo, quoted in “Christian fundamentalism lies behind harsh new LGBTIQ bill in Uganda”

Whatever the case, be it because of ‘external pressure’ or be it ‘internal pressure’ that is behind the Machiavellian move that revived and caused the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023 to come into law, let it not be the focus of its legal and moral challenge.I pray that this time round, the Constitutional Court considers the cases challenging it differently.

Unlike its predecessor, the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2014, it would be great if the Constitutional Court focuses on the content of the law and not the technicalities of how it became law. Let the Court ruling, this time round, determine the veracity of the premise of the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023 and its stipulations. In this way the matter will be dealt with once and for all.

Featured image @ Telegraph in “Being gay in Uganda: “they could come and kill me at anytime.”