Box Turtle Bulletin

BREAKING: Audio and News Reports of Uganda President’s Comments on Anti-Gay Bill

Uganda’s NTV has posted video of President Museveni’s announcement at a meeting of his ruling party that he will be speaking to MP David Bahati about the Anti-Homosexuality bill. The reporter suggests that Museveni’s remarks were a final “nail in the coffin” for the draconian measure.

An anonymous Ugandan reader sent audio to BTB and Grove City College professor Warren Throckmorton. In this audio clip, we can hear President Museveni speaking before a rowdy crowd at State House, Entebbe, before a meeting of his National Resistance Movement party. After recounting numerous phone calls and personal conversations he has had with foreign leaders and representatives, he announced that he and the Cabinet will sit down with MP Bahati “to see how best to handle this issue”:

I strongly advise you that we agree that the cabinet sit down with Bahati and see how best to handle this issue…

Because it is a foreign policy issue, it is not just our internal politics, and we must handle it in a way which does not compromise our principles but also takes into account our foreign policy interests. So let’s be systematic among ourselves, and then we dialogue with these Europeans and the Americans and then we shall come up with a final position.

Click here to see BTB\’s complete coverage of the past year\’s anti-gay developments in Uganda.

Ugandan President To Pressure Anti-Gay Bill Sponsor

There is a post up on the blog for Uganda’s The Independent newspaper indicating that Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and his cabinet will talk to MP David Bahati, the sponsor of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, in order “to reach a position that will leave both the local and international community satisfied.” Museveni reportedly made the announcement to members of his National Resistance Movement party.

The president\’s pronouncement attracted wild murmurs from the audience prompting him to repeat his statement. He said ever since the bill was tabled in the last quarter of last year; he has been receiving calls from various international figures including US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to find out updates on the proposed law. Museveni observed that the bill is affecting Uganda\’s image abroad. He said although there\’s need to protect Uganda\’s values, it also necessary to take care of concerns of the international community.

An earlier report went out on the blog’s RSS feed suggesting that the President intends to pressure Bahati into withdrawing the bill, but that post itself was withdrawn.

The Monitor, Uganda’s largest independent newspaper, also has a similar story posted moments ago:

President Museveni says that government will hold discussions with David Bahati, the Ndorwa West Member of parliament who tabled the bill which has been labled harsh to reach an agreed position. The president made the revelation today while opening the National Executive Conference of the ruling National Resistance Movement at State House Entebbe. Mr Museveni told the delegates that despite the fact that Uganda, has to protect its values and cultures, there is need to exercise extreme caution on the anti-gay bill. He said that the anti-gay bill is already impacting negatively on Uganda\’s foreign policy.

Click here to see BTB\’s complete coverage of the past year’s anti-gay developments in Uganda.

Museveni To Drop Death Penalty, WaPo Says Bill Is Still “Ugly and Ignorant”

There are reports out this morning that Uganda President Yoweri Museveni wants the death penalty provision removed from the proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill which is now before Parliament. The Washington Post, in a strongly worded editorial this morning, says that this move is not worth celebrating.

As currently written, the bill would:

• Expand the definitions for homosexual acts, making conviction easier. Current law requires evidence of penetration. The new law would expand the definition of homosexual activity to”touch(ing) another person with the intention of committing the act of homosexuality.” Touching itself is defined as “touching—(a) with any part of the body; (b) with anything else; (c) through anything; and in particular includes touching amounting to penetration of any sexual organ. anus or mouth.”
• Affirm Uganda\’s lifetime imprisonment for those convicted of homosexuality.
• Define a new crime of “aggravated homosexuality” for those who engage in sex with someone under the age of 18, who are HIV-positive, who is a “repeat offender” (so broadly defined as to include anyone who has had a relationship with more than one person, or who had sex with the same person more than once), or who had sex with a disabled person (consensual or not). The penalty for “aggravated homosexuality” is death by hanging.
• Require anyone arrested on suspicion of homosexuality to undergo HIV testing to determine the individual\’s qualification for prosecution of “aggravated homosexuality.”
• Criminalize “attempted homosexuality” with imprisonment of seven years.
• Criminalize “promoting” homosexuality with fines and imprisonment of between five and seven years. This overly-broad provision would criminalize all speech and peaceful assembly for those who advocate on behalf of LGBT citizens in Uganda . It could also be used against anyone extending counseling or otherwise aiding gay people. It would also criminalize any attempt to repeal or modify the law in the future, as those moves could also be seen as “promoting” homosexuality.
• Criminalize the act of obtaining a same-sex marriage abroad with lifetime imprisonment.
• Add a clause which forces friends or family members to report LGBT persons to police within 24-hours of learning about that individual\’s homosexuality or face fines or imprisonment of up to three years.
• Penalize landlords and hotel owners with five to seven years imprisonment for renting to LGBT people.
• Add an extra-territorial and extradition provisions, allowing Uganda to prosecute LGBT Ugandans living abroad.
• Void all international treaties, agreements and human rights obligations which conflict with this bill.

As you can see, dropping the death penalty clause barely scratches the surface of what the Washington Post calls an “ugly and ignorant piece of legislation.”

This retreat from the death sentence originally proposed should neither be celebrated nor considered a concession by the government in response to pressure from the United States and other nations. The proposal is barbaric. That it is even being considered puts Uganda beyond the pale of civilized nations.

Click here to see BTB\’s complete coverage of recent anti-gay developments in Uganda.

State Dept: Ugandan President Promises To Block Anti-Gay Bill

Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni

DCAgenda, the Washington, D.C. LGBT newspaper that rose from the ashes of the venerable Washington Blade, reports that Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni has committed to preventing the proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill from becoming law on at least two separate occasions. According to U.S. State Department spokesman Jon Tollefson:

Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson received this assurance from Museveni on Oct. 24 during an in-person meeting with the president in Uganda and again during a phone conversation with Museveni on Dec. 4, Tollefson said.

…Asked whether it\’s the understanding of U.S. officials that Museveni would veto the legislation should it come to his desk, Tollefson replied, “Right, that\’s a commitment that he\’s made. He made that personally to the assistant secretary on that first meeting that he had on Oct. 24 and again on a call on Dec. 4, and so we\’re going to continue to expect that.”

Tollefson also said that the State Department wants Museveni to make a public statement against the legislation, but so far the Ugandan president has not done so. While Museveni has not made his position known publicly, he has allowed Ugandan government controlled or owned media to publish two op-eds calling on Parliament to drop the Anti-Homosexuality Bill in recent weeks. The second op-ed was written by John Nagenda, a senior advisor to Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, and appeared in the government-owned New Vision which is Uganda’s largest newspaper.

DCAgenda’s report greatly expands on the hint that was dropped in yesterday’s AFP article which I discussed earlier today. When I wrote that post, I settled on the headline “Will Musevini Sign the Anti-Homosexuality Bill?” I vacillated between that headline and its alternate, “Will Museveni Veto the Anti-Homosexuality Bill?” It appears now that perhaps I should have gone with the more optimistic question. But until Museveni makes his views known publicly, it is still an open question.

Click here to see BTB\’s complete coverage of recent anti-gay developments in Uganda.

Will Musevini Sign the Anti-Homosexuality Bill?

Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni

Timothy Kincaid and I both posted yesterday’s statement by US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson about the U.S.’s concern over Uganda’s proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill. Timothy relied on a Reuters article, while I used a report from AFP. When I prepared my report, I overlooked this potentially important tidbit from AFP:

He [Carson] added that it is premature for US government to consider withdrawing aid from Uganda because (President Yoweri) Museveni himself said he does not support the legislation and the battle is not yet lost. [Emphasis mine.]

This is missing from the Reuters article, which says instead:

Museveni has been quoted as saying that homosexuality is a Western import, joining some Ugandan and continental religious leaders who believe it is un-African.

As I said on Michelangelo Signorile’s show yesterday, it is extremely difficult to read the tea leaves from some 9,000 miles away. We have no idea whether the AFP report, which paraphrases Carson’s statement, is an accurate representation of what the Assistant Secretary actually said. It’s not not a direct quote and Reuters didn’t mention it. [Update: A State Department spokesman now confirms that Museveni committed privately on at least two occasions to block the anti-gay bill.]

This lends more support to what we’ve observed earlier. On Dec. 10, we noticed an article posted on the official governmental Uganda Media Centre web site questioning Parliament’s priorities in debating the Anti-Homosexuality Bill. This is significant because the UMC serves as the official press office of the Ugandan government, and it’s hard to imagine this article appearing without approval, at the very least, from senior governmental officials if not President Museveni himself. As of today, that article is still on the UMC web site, and accessible from the UMC front page.

The next day, we saw an op-ed published in the government-owned New Vision by John Nagenda, a senior advisor to President Museveni. Nagenda was clearer, saying “Parliament should not pass this bill.” I have been following New Vision since the current Ugandan controversies began last February, and this marks the first time that I can recall the government-own paper publishing anything remotely critical of anti-gay efforts.

Then, almost we week later we learn through the Monitor, Uganda’s largest independent newspaper, that Ethics and Integrity Minister James Nsaba Buturo has vowed, according to the paper, to “remain silent about the proposed law until it has been passed or defeated.” Buturo had been an extremely loud proponent of the bill, pushing for “strengthening” Uganda’s anti-homosexuality laws ever since the American-led anti-gay conference in Kampala last March. This same Monitor article led of by mentioning President Barack Obama’s statement opposing the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, giving ordinary Ugandans their first exposure to Obama’s position. Obama, whose father was of the Luo tribe which lives in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, is revered in Uganda and throughout East Africa.

According to all reports, the Anti-Homosexuality Bill is almost certain to pass Parliament, and will probably do so unanimously or by a vote very close to it. It would then by up to President Museveni to either sign or veto the bill. On one hand, I can’t imagine Museveni vetoing the bill while one prevalent argument for the bill is to stand up to pressure from colonial powers. In addition to being deeply homophobic, Uganda is also a very proud nation and many of the bill’s supporters have vowed not to “bend low” before international pressure. On the other hand, there are good, although admittedly tentative and circumstantial signals being sent that this may in fact happen.

There are hopeful signs, but in the end it’s all up to Museveni. And his decision will likely be based on what serves his political interests and not what’s best for the people of Uganda. A Mr. O. Kalinge-Nnyago, writing yesterday for The Monitor, says that the Anti-Homosexuality Bill would provide Museveni’s 23-year-old government with a powerful new tool to use against his political opponents to maintain power:

If we let this ill conceived and absurd law to pass, we should also be ready to see it selectively applied to the regime\’s opponents who would be framed when it suits the regime. This is not the first time political opponents have been framed in this country. Former presidential candidate Kizza Besigye was framed for rape.

Who will be the next opposition politician to be arrested for suspected aggravated homosexuality or suspected concealment of homosexual practices? Because homosexuality is an abomination in Uganda, the regime, when it decides to frame you, does not have to prosecute you successfully. It is enough that your name has been dragged in the mud, you have been discredited and that possibly your political career is destroyed. I wouldn\’t trust this human rights abusive regime with any far reaching law.

The question is not whether Parliament will pass the bill. If the bill remains tabled, its passage is assured. The real questions are whether Museveni prevails upon his party in Parliament to withdraw the bill (he controls more than two-thirds of Parliament through his party and the military’s seats) or he vetoes it once it passes. Those questions are much more difficult to answer.

Click here to see BTB\’s complete coverage of recent anti-gay developments in Uganda.