Cabinet drops Bahati’s gay Bill
http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/-/688334/1223104/-/bjwa2vz/-/index.html
By SHEILA NATURINDA
Posted Monday, August 22 2011 at 12:57
Cabinet has finally thrown out the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, 2009 on the advice of Mr Adolf Mwesige, the ruling party lawyer. However, Ndorwa West MP David Bahati, the architect of the Bill, insists the proposed legislation is now property of Parliament and that the Executive should stop “playing hide- and- seek games” on the matter.
The decision to throw out the Anti-Homosexuality Bill was made at a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday where Mr Mwesige, according to sources, told ministers that the Bill was unnecessary since government has a number of laws in place criminalising homosexual activities.
“We agreed that government should search the law archives and get some of the laws, enforce them rather than having another new piece of legislation,” a source said. “He [Mwesige] said the Bill is overtaken by events and that donors and other sections of the public were not comfortable.”
The Bill seeks to criminalise all same-sex relations in the country and proposes the death penalty for sodomy. Mr Bahati and his group maintain that the country should have stronger laws against homosexuality in order to protect the moral fabric that holds society intact.
“The future of this country’s children will be determined by the peoples’ representatives in Parliament,” Mr Bahati said during a phone interview on Saturday.
snaturinda@ug.nationmedia.com
Uganda strikes down bid to revive anti-gay bill
http://af.reuters.com/article/ugandaNews/idAFL5E7JN1YS20110823
Tue Aug 23, 2011 7:46pm GMT
KAMPALA Aug 23 (Reuters) - Uganda's cabinet has blocked an attempt by some legislators to reintroduce a bill that called for the death penalty for gays who are considered "repeat offenders".
The small but vocal anti-gay movement in Uganda, spearheaded by several MPs and a group of bishops, won notoriety when the legislation was originally introduced in 2009.
U.S. President Barack Obama denounced it as "odious" and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni to reject it.
"We discussed that bill in cabinet last week and after views from everyone were heard and debated, a decision was unanimously taken to drop that proposed law," Ugandan Attorney General Peter Nyombi told Reuters on Tuesday.
"The position of the cabinet is that there's already sufficient law to take care of all crimes envisaged by the proposed anti-homosexuality bill."
The legislation was not passed during the east African country's last parliamentary session but a group of government MPs had vowed to reintroduce it. Political analysts in Uganda say the decision by the cabinet to come out publicly against it should mean it cannot be passed in the near future.
The bill had been quietly shelved under pressure from foreign governments and gay rights groups before, but activists feared it would end up being passed after President Yoweri Museveni's February election victory. (Reporting by Elias Biryabarema; Writing by Barry Malone; Editing by Richard Lough and Mark Heinrich)
