M7 To MPs: I Will Sign Anti-gay Bill Into Law
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni
Uganda’s president Yoweri Museveni has told legislators of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party at their retreat in Kyankwanzi that he will sign the Anti-homosexuality bill into law.
This was revealed by government spokesman Ofwono Opondo on social media site Twitter, Friday evening.
“President Museveni has told NRM MPs he will assent the Anti-Homosexuality Bill into law” Ofwono tweeted.
On December 30, the Ugandan Parliament passed the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, allowing for greater punishments for gay people, and those who fail to report them to police.
The president’s promise to sign the bill comes after 14 medical experts presented a report that homosexuality is not genetic but a social behavior.
The report follows a request by President Yoweri Museveni for scientific proof on the cause of homosexuality before he assents to the Anti Homosexuality Bill that was passed by Parliament in December, 2013.
The NRM caucus has welcomed the development as a measure to protect Ugandans from social deviants.
Ugandan traditionalists, religious leaders and politicians have been urging president Museveni to sign the Bill.
Below is a press release by NRM Caucus Spokes person Anite Evelyn.
PRESS RELEASE
PRESENTATION BY A TEAM OF SCIENTISTS FROM MoH AND MAKERERE UNIVERSITY ON HOMOSEXUALITY AND GENETICS IN HUMANS
A Ministerial Committee comprising of scientists from MoH and Makerere University was set up to study homosexuality and genetics in human beings and advise the President and the NRM Caucus on the subject of homosexuality.
The committee comprised of;
– Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng – Director General of Health Services
– Dr. Isaac Ezati – Director Planning and Development at MOH
– Dr. Jacinto Amandua – Commissioner Clinical Services
– Dr. Sheila Ndyanabangi – Head, Mental Health Desk
– Prof. Seggane Musisi – Professor of Psychiatry at Makerere
– Assoc. Prof. Eugene Kinyanda – Senior Research Scientist, Medical Research Council
– Dr. David Basangwa – Director, Butabika Hospital
– Dr. Sylvester Onzivua – Senior Pathologist, Mulago Hospital
– Dr. Misaki Wayengera – Geneticist, Makerere
– Dr. Paul Bangirana – Clinical Psychologist, Makerere
– Prof. Wilson Byarugaba – Rtd. Professor and former Head of Human and Molecular Genetics, Dept of Pathology, Makerere
Two medical Parliamentarians names; Dr. Chris Baryomunsi and Dr. Medard Bitekerezo also presented a report whose findings and conclusions concurred with that of the Ministerial Committee.
The following were their observations;
1. There is no definitive gene responsible for homosexuality.
2. Homosexuality is not a disease but merely an abnormal behavior which may be learned through experiences in life.
3. In every society, there is a small number of people with homosexuality tendencies.
4. Homosexuality can be influenced by environmental factors e.g. culture, religion and peer pressure among others.
5. The practice needs regulation like any other human behavior especially to protect the vulnerable.
6. There is need for further studies to address sexuality in the African context.
Presidential Advisor on Science Dr. Richard Tushemereirwe stated that homosexuality has serious Public Health consequences and should therefore not be tolerated.
H.E. the President then made it clear that his work was done and that all he needed was for the Scientists to sign the paper they presented since it would be a historical document forming basis for the signing of the Bill.
H.E. also declared that he would sign the Bill since the question of whether one can be born a homosexual or not had been answered.
The President emphasized that Promoters, exhibitionists and those who practice homosexuality for Mercenary reasons will not be tolerated and will therefore be dealt with harshly.
Hon. Anite Evelyn
NRM Caucus Spokes person
About Post Author
Well done Mr President, very proud of you if u fulfil your promise and sign the bill into a law. Long live M7 chief of the armed forces.
This is very unwise of M7, because this decision will lead to ostracism by financial interests in the West and cause great financial hardship for the People of Uganda.
When that happens, they will know who to blame and act accordingly.
Who
Am I to Judge???
Many in a sudden rush to condemnation of the MP Fox Odoi for his
position on the Gay and Lesbian Bill and issue need to take pause and
reflect deeply on the matter. Many of us heterosexuals, male and
female with no biases either way simply see a man attempting to
interpret the law as it is written to highlight the value of human
rights and civil rights both under Uganda’s constitution and under
international law for the long haul and the clear secular separation
of church or religion and state in the interpretation of the law of
the land. Those of us who live in the free world despite
being religiously heterosexual in every sense of the word
perhaps understand this issue better already as we live and work
beside people like us who may or may not have other sexual
orientation than our heterosexual norm yet we have learned
to socially tolerate that difference without prejudice . Any one
who may feel homophobic as many of us may have been labelled numerous
times for our feelings and open opinions about sexual orientation at
one time have hard to grapple with questions such as those below:
1)Who am I to judge one’s sexual orientation or preferences? but
only God to who we are answerable equally for all our sins as well as
the good we do in life . As long as we do not commit a crime
that does harm to another unwilling human being or innocent
child or person with disability and lacking rational judgement or not
knowing right and wrong.
Interesting enough there are already protections under the
commonwealth laws for such potential victims of incest, sodomy,
pimping, bestiality, polygamy, sexual slavery, and the list goes on.
2)If you are a member of the clergy or leadership of any
religious group or affiliation, does the holy book , bible,
Koran, Torah instruct you or me to persecute a homosexual or
lesbian or indeed a heterosexual fornicator who secretly or
openly has a mbistress or concubines ( a very common
practice in Uganda or African society by tradition) and for that
matter a prostitute, a pimp who sells women’s body sexual favours for
money and the list goes on.???
3)Does the bible and most other religious books encourage us and
especially those in the “gab” like the Right Reverend Arch Bishop
Ntagali to have empathy for those human souls who we may believe are
spiritually astray in the moral sense or does the bible tell us to
condemn, persecute them and ultimately lock them up?? If I can quote
the bible: I think we are told not to judge lest we be judged a
hundred-fold. So also are we told to have empathy yet like the
pharisees we see a Bishop of the church rush to condemnation as
we saw in the days of Jesus. On the other hand we read of Jesus
showing empathy, kindness and forgiveness to a woman prostitute who
was about to be stoned to death for her sins yet non of those
condemning her were ready to admit to being free of sin in front of
the Christ Jesus. And why was Jesus communing with and endeavouring
to mingle with sinners and his disciples alike?? was he sending a
message to us or was he a traitor to the teachings of the synagogues
as the Pharisees saw him??: and deserved judgement and punishment
from the pharisees and the mob???
4)On the political front, should we as practising politicians let
political expediency cloud our honest and accurate interpretation of
the law of the land and international law. If we so do, are we in
the eyes of God really true representatives of the people we claim to
serve when we get elected? Or are we hypocrites and opportunists?
Last but not least,
5)How can a developing country like Uganda faced with so many
seemingly insurmountable political and economic challenges afford to
devote so much “parliamentary time” on a social bill to persecute
a minority when there are gigantic political, social-economic issues
facing the Ugandan people and which no one in the house seems to
confront or dare to address yet need priority in parliamentary
debate??? or is this diversionary at best to avoid what may be a
political crisis on the horizon??
6) Which of all the perceived evils referred to in the above
text is the bigger evil or sin before God?? You be the judge but
ultimately God is the final judge of all including you and me whether
we are straight, gay, lesbian, fornicators, thugs, sexual predators,
murderers and the list goes on.
Make your own judgement if you are reading this but as a fiercely
heterosexual man myself, who might also pick celibacy and singleness
over any form of FORNICATION, if you catch my drift, I choose to not
judge “gays and lesbians” even though their sexual orientation
may feel instinctively, repulsive to me at best. But who am I to
judge??? All I can do for them is wish them well and fair judgement
before God and thank God that he made me as I am; a heterosexual and
pray to God to help me leave the judgement to the Almighty creator
who created all, straight or twisted, or else I may be offending God
and committing a sin to judge his creative endeavour. I believe
Mother Teresa may have reached the same conclusion when in her
opinion of “sainthood” when she said a saint in her conscience
might be someone who commits a minimum of 10 sins a day but still
never yields to temptation and struggles against evil but repents
before God.
I have nothing more to add!!
I wish this level of consultation by the president would be the norm in every aspect of governance of the country.
We would love to see these findings by the so called scientists published in all medical journals all over the world. May be Uganda will be the first in Africa to win the Nobel Prize in Medicine. And M7 would accompany the scientists to Stockholm Sweden to receive the Prize next December. How proud Uganda would be to have found a cure, unlike with the HIV/AIDS.
This was a wise move by the President, similar to that of Pontius Pilate! I am not sure that the scientists have used SCIENCE to reach at their unanimous conclusions!
Good president M7 if you sign this bill. Refusing to sign it would mean you are anti-people. When parliament speaks, the people have spoken. We can do without aid. If we ended corruption, our resources are enough.