Published: June 23, 2014

 

 The High Court in Kampala has ruled that Ethics and Integrity Minister Rev Fr. Simon Lokodo acted with-in the public interest to protect moral values when he stormed into a hotel and closed a workshop that had been organized by homosexuals in Entebbe two years ago.

The minister had been sued by activists; Jacqueline Kasha Nabagesera, Julian Pepe Onziema, Frank Mugisha and Geoffrey Ogwaro.

They had among others accused him of infringing on their constitutional rights when he closed their two week workshop at Imperial Resort Beach Hotel in Entebbe at the expense of their freedom to assembly.
But in his judgment, justice Steven Musota held that the homosexuals could not claim to have  their rights infringed upon since they were involved in promoting illegal acts by distributing same sex literature and encouraging homosexuals to have self-esteem and confidence for their sexual preference.

The judge also awarded costs to the minister after he dismissed the case against him on grounds that he had been wrongly sued since he acted in his official capacity as minister to close the gay-workshop but not as an individual.

Similarly, court awarded costs to the attorney general who was the first respondent in this case after the matter was ruled in his favor.

The workshop in question had been secretly organized by Freedom and Roam Uganda, an association that lobbies for the recognition of same sex relationships in Uganda, at Imperial Resort Beach Entebbe in February 2012.

Today’s reading of the judgment comes four after President Museveni on February, 24, this year, publically assented to the Anti-homosexuality Bill becoming Law.

According to the Anti-homosexuality Act 2014, a person who purports to contract a marriage with another person of the same sex, commits the offence of homosexuality and shall be liable, on conviction, to imprisonment up to life.