Parliament to vote on anti-gay bill

The parliament of the republic of Uganda has renewed its offensive against the looming vice of homosexuality. This follows the approval of a private members bill being fronted by the Bugiri Municipality MP Asuman Basalirwa.

The speaker Anita Among says parliament as one of the arms of government must take a stand and uphold the norms and morality of Ugandans.

“It’s our children who’re suffering because of homosexuality. Time for lamenting is over. The western world say they are assisting us; we don’t want their assistance if they are going to destroy our morals and cultural beliefs,” she said.

The Tororo woman MP Sarah Opendi backed the bill stating that the vice must be criminalized.

“We need to stand as Ugandans and make it an offence for those who are promoting homosexuality. I call upon our government to stand firm and not be tempted because of money that may be thrown around. In fact, we can live within our means,” she said. “God created man and woman for a purpose. He created animals all paired. It is very unfortunate that the people who brought religion to this country and told us about Jesus Christ and how we should live and left criminalizing homosexuality have turned around,” she added.

Opendi further castigates the West for being hypocritical by going against the very norms they put in place during colonialism.

“They are trying to tell our people that it is normal to live and get married to a fellow man or woman to a fellow woman. The promotion of homosexuality is not in any legislation, and therefore, we must also make it an offense for those who are promoting this amongst our children in schools,” she said.

All MPs present in the house supported the motion save for the Leader of Opposition Rt. Hon. Mathias Mpuuga Nsamba, Hon. Joel Ssenyonyi and Zaake Francis who opposed it on grounds that it is not a pressing issue that requires all this attention. They argue that the country has other pertinent issues like the acute poverty and unemployment to tackle.

MPs will tomorrow by show of hands vote on the bill contrary to the rules of procedure that require a member to seek leave of the house before the bill is tabled. This will be the second attempt of Parliament to pass the bill since it was tabled in 2013 and assented to law by Museveni in 2014 before the constitutional court nullified it on grounds of quorum.