Museveni now takes gays Bill to scientists
By John Tugume
Posted Sunday, January 26 2014 at 02:00
Posted Sunday, January 26 2014 at 02:00
KAMPALA
President Museveni has said he will only sign the
Anti-Homosexuality Bill after scientists have proved to him that it is a
normal behaviour.
Sources in the NRM Caucus meeting on Friday told
Sunday Monitor that Mr Museveni agreed with the MPs that people who
promote and recruit others into homosexuality should be prosecuted.
The Bill was passed in December but awaits the
President’s signature before it becomes law. However, the President
wrote to the Speaker of Parliament, expressing disappointment over what
he called “elements who insisted and passed the Bill even without quorum
of Parliament”.
In his letter recent to the Speaker, Mr Museveni
argued that homosexuality is an abnormality and those practising it can
be helped out of it through “economic empowerment.”
A source who attended the Friday meeting said MPs urged the President to sign the Bill. Dr Medard Bitekyerezo, MP for Mbarara Municipality, informed the President that nobody is born a homosexual but the behaviour is only acquired through training. “Homosexuality is not genetically transmitted. It is a behavioural deviation but on the negative side,” Dr Betekyerezo reportedly said.
A source who attended the Friday meeting said MPs urged the President to sign the Bill. Dr Medard Bitekyerezo, MP for Mbarara Municipality, informed the President that nobody is born a homosexual but the behaviour is only acquired through training. “Homosexuality is not genetically transmitted. It is a behavioural deviation but on the negative side,” Dr Betekyerezo reportedly said.
Dr Chris Baryomunsi (Kinkizi East) said: “The
President wanted the science which we gave him and he agreed with us
that recruiters and promoters should be dealt with accordingly. We told
him that homosexuality started as a result of adventurism.”
Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi is said to have told
the meeting that there was no need for a new law since homosexuality is
catered for under the Penal Code Act.
This appears to contradict the President’s
official legal adviser, the Attorney General, who wrote to Mr Museveni,
saying sections in the Anti-Homosexuality Bill are not covered in the
existing laws. Sources said the President also confirmed that he had
been contacted by South Africa’s retired archbishop Desmond Tutu and the
Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights not to sign the
Bill.
Several human rights groups, both local and
international, have prayed the President not to sign the Bill. Under
the Bill, a person found guilty of homosexuality is liable to life
imprisonment in jail. The President reportedly told the MPs he won’t be
intimidated. The NRM Chief Whip, Ms Kasule Lumumba, did not pick our
repeated phone calls. The caucus spokesperson, Ms Evelyne Anite, neither
picked our calls nor responded to our messages.
