The President of Uganda appears to have distanced himself from the Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009, which would effectively introduce the death penalty for gays.
President Museveni told members of the National Resistance Movement that the bill had not been proposed by his party, nor by the Ugandan Government, but by a private member, David Bahati. He said he had received phone calls from several foreign leaders, including the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Canadian PM Stephen Harper, and all they wanted to talk about was “gays.”
He described the Anti-Homosexuality Bill as a “foreign policy issue,” and proposed a meeting between his cabinet and Bahati to find a solution.
Dr Warren Throckmorton posted a full audio recording (unfortunately a little hard to hear at times) of Museveni’s speech, as well as the following video from NTV Uganda:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wHR3amJ5ko
There is no reason to think the President has been swayed by moral arguments against the bill, but evidently he fears the international repercussions that its adoption into law might trigger. While he did not announce any concrete decisions, this is an indication that if the bill goes through at all, it will not be in its present format.
This anti-gay thing should not attract lots of concern from the public. Culture evolves and if it has taken that twist, so what. I am personally not pro gay, but as we go globalisation, we need to be fully aware its consequences; for the better or for the worse. It is apt to know that homosexuality is not a new phenomenon in Africa …. If the passing of this bill can have a negative consequence for our begging economy, then for the good of our people we drop the bill as several foreign heads have not taken it lightly. Let us find better ways of instilling morals to the young ones!
One can only hope Dave. It’s got more twists and turns than a twisty, turny thing.
I dare say he’s also “received phone calls” from more than a few of the people who are on the tit (legitimately or otherwise) of the international development funding streams etc. In local terms these are vast sums of money, all too easily mugged on their way from the payroll office to the pub on a Thursday afternoon.
Funny how the ‘moral objections’ of all too many people run out of steam when they stop getting free steam.