Gay Bill: Museveni warns MPs
Publish Date: Aug 12, 2014
President Yoweri Museveni
By Henry Sekanjako and Moses WalubiriPresident Yoweri Museveni has advised the National Resistance Movement (NRM) Parliamentary caucus not to rush the re-enactment of an anti-homosexuality law after its nullification by the Constitutional Court due to lack of quorum.
On August 1, 2014, the Constitutional Court nullified the anti-homosexuality law where a panel of five judges including the acting deputy chief justice Steven Kavuma agreed with the petitioners that the law was passed without quorum. According to the parliamentary rules of procedure, quorum is a third of the voting members of Parliament (about 128 MPs).
Addressing the NRM Parliamentary Caucus at State House Entebbe yesterday, President Museveni told MPs that the law was not a priority for the country’s development even as there was need to protect the family institution.
“A country which has no vision punishes a divided house. We need to work together through consensus and use of collective methods,” a source quoted Museveni as saying.
According to the source, who preferred anonymity, the President asked the MPs to debate the law when it is re-tabled in Parliament without any emotional feelings, for the betterment of the country and international relations.
“This is now an issue of Semusota guli muntamu (a snake which has entered into a cooking pot). If we try to kill the snake, we may break the pot, if we don’t we won’t” the President reportedly told the caucus, citing a Luganda saying used to describe a delicate situation that poses a serious dilemma.
Another source said the president had set up a 10-member committee chaired by the Vice-President Edward Kiwanuka Sekandi to study the petition, which challenged the law.
Sekandi had earlier excited MPs when he told the President that the Bill should be re-tabled in Parliament.
Other committee members include David Bahati, Chris Baryomunsi, Steven Tashobya, Jim Muhwezi, and Ruth Nankabirwa
“The committee has been tasked to report back to the caucus within a period of one month. The court only focused on quorum, but there are other grounds, which were not considered,” said the source.
The source noted that the President said some of his advice on the law had been ignored, adding that there was need to protect the children against acts of homosexuality, promotion and recruitment of the young ones into practicing the vice.
Museveni’s statements came few hours after Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga and a number of MPs vowed to pass the Bill, when re-introduced in Parliament.
Homosexuality is still criminal under the Ugandan national Constitution and the Penal Code Act. But the annulled law had provided for life imprisonment for “aggravated homosexuality” and banned the “promotion of homosexuality”.
At the time of signing the Bill, Museveni said: “Homosexuals are nurtured, but not natured. No study has shown that one can be a homosexual by nature. Since nurture is the cause, that is why I have agreed to sign the Bill into law.”
Museveni had also warned critics of the law, including the US not to push Uganda on the matter. “I would like to discourage the US government from taking the line that passing this law will “complicate our valued relationship” with the US, as President Obama said.
The Act had spawned a chill in Uganda’s relationship with a number of western countries.
In June, the US imposed travel restrictions on Ugandan officials and cut funding to a number of programmes it is running with the Ugandan authorities. Several European nations — including Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands and Sweden — had earlier cut aid.
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Pastors want MPs to vote by roll call
Anti-gay activists hold placards as they march to Parliament yesterday. PHOTO BY ABUBAKER
LUBOWA
By Solomon Arinatiwe
Posted Tuesday, August 12 2014 at 01:00
Posted Tuesday, August 12 2014 at 01:00
In Summary
Pastors say MPs should vote openly and definitively respond to queries over lack of quorum and end the controversy surrounding the Anti-Homosexuality Bill.
Pastors under the Portbell Road Pastors Fellowship have petitioned the Speaker of Parliament, Ms Rebecca Kadaga, demanding that MPs vote by roll call when the controversial Anti-Homosexuality Bill is re-introduced in Parliament to expose legislators opposed to the law.
Pastors under the Portbell Road Pastors Fellowship have petitioned the Speaker of Parliament, Ms Rebecca Kadaga, demanding that MPs vote by roll call when the controversial Anti-Homosexuality Bill is re-introduced in Parliament to expose legislators opposed to the law.
Under the House Rules of Procedure, voting can be done by voice voting, secret voting and the roll call and tally system. When the Bill was passed last December, MPs voted by voices where the Speaker called those in favour of the law to say “Aye” and those against to say “No”.
Premier Amama Mbabazi’s caution about the lack of quorum was ignored by Ms Kadaga despite a provision under the House rules that stipulate that when a question over quorum is raised, the Speaker is obligated to temporarily suspend proceedings to ascertain the matter.
The lack of quorum in the House on that day triggered a court suit and the Constitutional Court ruled early this month that the passing of the Bill without the required quorum was an illegality that the Speaker ignored and nullified the law.
Yesterday, the pastors presented a petition to the Speaker demanding that to put to rest the controversy surrounding the law, MPs should vote openly and definitively respond to queries over lack of quorum.
“We appreciate the act of boldness and we want to see all MPs in the House. Let them support it by the show of hands so that we can know who is on our side and who is on the side of homosexuals,” Mr Wilber Mukisa, the chairperson of the group, said.
“We appreciate the act of boldness and we want to see all MPs in the House. Let them support it by the show of hands so that we can know who is on our side and who is on the side of homosexuals,” Mr Wilber Mukisa, the chairperson of the group, said.
Ms Kadaga told the pastors to appreciate the circumstances that MPs work under, revealing that the pro-gay lobby groups would reach out to President Museveni every time the Bill was put on the Order Paper.
“The law had spent seven years. Everytime they put it on the Order Paper, they alert the President and stop the people [MPs] from coming. Parliament is with the people,” the Speaker said.
“The law had spent seven years. Everytime they put it on the Order Paper, they alert the President and stop the people [MPs] from coming. Parliament is with the people,” the Speaker said.
Asked how the law will be re-introduced in Parliament, Ms Kadaga said the Constitutional Court’s ruling did not refer to the merits of the now debunked Act. “What did the judgment say; that we should not attach this matter again? It was not heard on merit. The merit of the people of Uganda is still alive,” she said.