East African lawyers want to discuss Uganda’s Anti-Gay bill

THE Arusha-based East African Law Society (EALS) has ordered a copy of the Anti-Gay bill which Ugandan President, Mr Yoweri Museveni recently signed into law amid international uproar.

"We have just ordered a copy of the controversial bill, for us to go through, after which the EALS is to make own statement regarding the new law in Uganda,’’ revealed Mr James-Aggrey Mwamu the President of the East African Law Society.

The document was supposed to be at the Law Society’s office by Friday. Apparently the EALS is sitting on the fence over the matter until the entire document has been gone through.

According to the Society’s president, however, the matter can be appealed in higher legal corridors should Ugandan gay-right activists feel like contesting their president’s decision.

"Uganda has strongest constitutional court and we are very confident that it can handle all appeals related to President Museveni’s recent law,’’ stated Mr Mwamu, pointing out that even without Museveni’s new law, naturally African societies will not be accepting same-sex relations in a hurry.

"Tell anybody in our villages about same-sex marriage and the entire society will conclude you are under some sort of a curse, either that or you are totally demented,’’ said the EALS President.

Mr Mwamu was convinced that it is not only Uganda, but all the other four East African countries of Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania are likely to oppose gays and lesbians running amok in their respective societies.

Despite Western countries protesting against the document calling it "Harsh" the Ugandan head of state went ahead and snubbed international concerns, passing the Anti-gay bill into law, thus sealing tough punitive measures to the queer offenders.

President Museveni signed into law the bill toughening penalties for gay people, including lengthy jail terms, though it lacks a clause criminalising those who do not report them. Uganda now issues life sentences for gay affairs as well as same-sex marriages.

The previously proposed sentence of up to 14 years in prison for first-time offenders has been removed. US President Barack Obama was recently quoted cautioning that the bill would be a backward step for Uganda.

Museveni’s action follows his Nigerian counterpart, President Goodluck Jonathan’s similar move to doom gay marriages into prison.

Meanwhile, the World Bank has postponed a 90 million US dollars (over 144bn/-) loan to Uganda over its tough new anti-gay law that has drawn criticism from around the western world.

World Bank officials said they wanted to guarantee the projects the loan was destined to support were not going to be adversely affected by the new law. The loan was intended to boost Uganda's health services.

The new law, enacted on Monday, strengthens already strict legislation relating to homosexuals in the country. It allows life imprisonment as the penalty for acts of "aggravated homosexuality" and also criminalises the "promotion" of homosexuality".

The law has been sharply criticised by the West, with donors such as Denmark and Norway saying they would redirect aid away from the government to aid agencies. US Secretary of State John Kerry has called the law "atrocious".

Both he and South African Nobel peace laureate Desmond Tutu compared it to anti-Semitic laws in Nazi Germany or apartheid South Africa.

A spokesman for the World Bank said: "We have postponed the project for further review to ensure that the development objectives would not be adversely affected by the enactment of this new law."

The loan was supposed to be approved on Thursday to supplement a 2010 loan that focused on maternal health, newborn care and family planning.

The World Bank's action is the largest financial penalty incurred on the Ugandan authorities since the law went into force on Monday.

In an editorial for the Washington Post, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim warned that legislation restricting sexual rights "can hurt a country's competitiveness by discouraging multinational companies from investing or locating their activities in those nations".

He said the World Bank would discuss how such discrimination "would affect our projects and our gay and lesbian staff members".

In his view, he adds, fighting "to eliminate all institutionalised discrimination is an urgent task".

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni signed the anti-gay bill earlier this week, despite international criticism.

Ugandan authorities have defended the decision, saying President Museveni wanted "to demonstrate Uganda's independence in the face of Western pressure and provocation".

Uganda is a very conservative society, where many people oppose homosexuality.

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