The Speaker of Parliament Edward Ssekandi has said he has recently been under intense pressure over the anti-homosexuality Bill that proposes severe punishments for same sex relationships.
The punishments are not severe, they are just the same as others in similar laws, yet homosexuality is more aggrevated.
While speaking to hundreds of Christians on Christmas Day at Lubaga Cathedral, where he represented the government, Mr Sekandi said: “I have received so many communications from abroad threatening and stressing that they shall not give us money if we support the anti-homosexuality Bill.”
Why should homosexuals threaten us with aid money, if it means getting money in exchange with homosexuality, they would rather stay with their money and we die in diginity like the Uganda Matyrs.
But the Speaker called for calm, saying the matter was being handled judiciously. Mr Ssekandi’s remarks came shortly after the author of the gay Bill, Ndorwa West MP David Bahati, reported to the Ministry of Internal Affairs that his life was in danger.
Mr Bahati says he now fears for his life following the disappearance of his cousin Emmanuel Mabonga. He said ever since he moved the Private Member’s Bill against homosexuality, he has been receiving death threats. It was not possible to verify his claims.
Mr Bahati’s law, tabled in Parliament on October 14, proposes death or life imprisonment for homosexuals, but it also proposes punishments for those who fail to report homosexuals to the authorities. The Bill is currently before the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee, which is yet to start public hearings.
President Museveni was recently reported to have told US authorities that he would veto the Bill, although his precise stance on the proposed law remains unclear. Several countries like the US, Britain, Canada and international human-rights organisations have described the proposed law as discriminatory, some threatening to withhold development assistance to Uganda if the Bill is passed. President Obama, in a recent statement to a gay publication, said the Bill moves “against the tide of history”.
Museveni's stance on the bill is clear, HE DOES NOT WANT HOMOSEXUALITY HERE. For Obama, he simply does not know what he is talking about, how can he say the bill is against the tide of history, when we know that because of homosexuality, the two cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed, Homosexuality is the only vice that caused fire from heaven to destroy cities. No community that embraces homosexuality has ever survived. So what history is Obama talking about?
But Mr Ssekandi, in his Christmas Day speech, explained that MP Bahati’s proposed Bill was not out of order. “In Parliament, any member is free to move a Private Member’s Bill. Since Bahati’s Bill is before the Parliamentary committee, it is going to gather people’s views and report back to the House,” he said.
The Archbishop, Dr Cyprian Lwanga Kizito, had earlier said the Bill was not necessary since there are already other existing laws against homosexuality. But Mr Ssekandi insisted that the committee shall weigh the advantages and disadvantages of the Bill and advise Parliament.
The proposed law just wants to make constitutional what is in the penal code, so what is all the fuss about?
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