Faridah N Kulumba
Africa-Press – Uganda. At the end of May 2023, the president of Uganda signed into law the world’s harshest anti-LGBTQ+ bill, which allows the death penalty for homosexual acts.
The new law doubles down on already harsh sanctions imposed on LGBTQ+ people in Uganda, where consensual same-sex sexual intimacy is illegal. The legislation imposes the death penalty for so-called aggravated cases, which include having gay sex with someone below the age of 18 or where someone is infected with a life-long illness including HIV.
Uganda resisted pressure from the United States and the donor community, including threats to withdraw funding, especially in the health sector.
The Speaker of the Parliament of Uganda Hon Anita Among said that the Parliament of Uganda heeded the concerns of the citizens and legislated to protect the sanctity of the family, as per Article 31 of the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda. She added that the parliament stood strong to defend the culture, values, and aspirations of Ugandans as per objectives 19 and 24 of the country’s national objectives and directive principles of state policy.
The U.S imposed sanctions
As soon as the Anti-LGBTQ+ bill was signed into law the United States reacted by first imposing sanctions on Hon Among travel to the U.S. by revoking her visas. The U.S. vowed to ban all Ugandans involved in human rights abuses against gay people from entering their country.
In a written statement that was issued by IU.S National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said that the Department of State is taking measures to prevent entry into the United States by certain Ugandan officials involved in serious human rights abuses, including against LGBT individuals.
The U.S. will also discontinue or redirect funds for certain programs involving the Ugandan Police Force, National Public Health Institute, and Ministry of Health, and has canceled plans to conduct a US military-sponsored aviation exercise in the African nation.
After President Museveni gave assent to the Anti-Homosexuality Act, which immediately becomes one of the strictest anti-LGBTQ+ laws the World Bank postponed a USD 90 million (£54m) loan that was meant to enhance the country’s health services.
Several European nations – including Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, and Sweden – have cut aid to Uganda to show their opposition to the law.
U-turn
At the beginning of this month, Ugandans were surprised to hear that the U.S. had changed its mind about some sanctions imposed on the health sector. This followed the U.S. government through their ambassador to Uganda Natalie Brown pledging to keep supporting the government of Uganda in the fight against HIV and AIDS despite the recent anti-gay law that was enacted. They promised to continue funding the Ugandan government as well as NGOs in the fight against HIV.
The U.S. has announced grants to fight HIV that can be applied for by small organizations ranging from USD 15000 (about Shs 55 million) to USD 310,000 (about Shs1.1 billion).
The said funding will be accessed through President’s Emergency Plan for AIDs Relief PEPFAR. The funding according to the U.S. embassy website will be providing treatment, prevention, and care for people affected with HIV AIDS giving Uganda around 1.4 trillion annually.
A journalist Ms. Margaret Mayanja while giving her opinion to Africa-Press on why U.S’s change of mind on HIV funds said It’s the art of imperialism and neocolonialism….the art that still guarantees their hold on Africa, and if they take that art of the ” hand that gives” and we stop being the ” hand that receives” then we become square and when we reach the square stage, then they can never dictate on how we should act, which laws we should pass, how we run our governments, what we can manufacturer and not..etc.
Mixed Reactions to the U.S sanctions
President Museveni says that the West’s backlash against Uganda over anti-homosexuality law is unjustified and based on distortion and misrepresentation of facts. He explained that contrary to popular claims by Western leaders and pro-gay activists, the new law decriminalizes an individual for simply being gay or lesbian but forbids recruitment (s) by homosexual (s) of non-gay persons into homosexuality, exhibitions, and promotions of sexual orientation and performing homosexual sex on another person.
The government of Uganda says it will not be pressed by the West to change the laws, which can see gay people jailed for life. According to Uganda’s authorities, President Museveni wanted “to demonstrate Uganda’s independence in the face of Western pressure and provocation”.
However, there are some concerns among security analysts, and scholars that a sudden disengagement of an involved military from regional security missions could plunge expansive vulnerable stretches of the Great Lake Region and the Horn of Africa into chaos which could breed terrorists to strike anywhere in the world.
An opposition legislator Hon Muwada Nkunyingi told Africa-Press that some authorities in the government of Uganda are being arrogant while reacting to the U.S. imposed sanctions but they should instead try to settle the issue with the West amicably.
Meanwhile, some Ugandan rights activists and politicians also filed a legal challenge to overturn the law, arguing it subjected them to cruel and inhuman punishment.
Engineer Simon Mulumba in his reaction said to imagine being the head of families for over 150 years, providing health, education, food, clothing, etc, but not land in exchange for loyalty from your subordinates that have come to believe that they can not do a lot on their own and for their siblings or offsprings, and then when they annoy you by passing a law(s) that seem inhumane to you, you threaten to take away the food, the medicine the education that you have been giving.
And when you affect your threats and the hand that gives is cut off, the families, their siblings, and offspring will find a way to access what you have been giving them, either by engaging in creating innovations or bringing on board new partners who could have a similar muscle as you…or even have both.
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