On April 20, 2016 Care2Causes reported: Uganda’s parliamentary speaker has hinted that she could bring back a version of the horrific Anti-Homosexuality Bill.
Uganda’s parliamentary speaker has hinted that she could bring back a version of the horrific Anti-Homosexuality Bill.
During a visit to the political talk show Capital Gang, Speaker Rebecca Kadaga said that it is within the power of MPs to put the bill up for a vote at any time:
“In 2014, I promised Ugandans that I will give them a Christmas gift by passing the anti-homosexuality bill, which I did. Unfortunately, the bill was annulled by the court after President Yoweri Museveni had assented to it. However, the bill can still be deliberated on in parliament if the movers bring it back to the floor of parliament.”
Uganda passed the notorious Anti-Homosexuality Act in 2014. Among other penalties, it promised life in prison for gay people.
However, after review, Uganda’s Constitutional Court struck down the law — not because its attack on LGBT people was declared unconstitutional – because the Court said that the law had been pushed through without enough MPs present to make the final vote legal.
As time passed, Museveni showed little interest in replacing the Act, despite MPs signing a motion that attempted to make the Constitutional Court’s ruling invalid. Museveni feared international sanctions and a trade boycott.
Museveni was also up for reelection in February of this year, and any political battle over the law would have been unpalatable for the MPs in his party.
Now that Museveni has won reelection, he may decide that renewing the Act is no longer as politically toxic. That said, Museveni may not need to back the legislation at all.
Ugandan MPs may be about to use a back door in another piece of legislation to accomplish their anti-homosexuality goals.
Read more at: Uganda’s Cruel ‘Jail The Gays’ Bill Could Return | Care2 Causes