The Uganda Key Populations Consortium, a civil rights organisation, has expressed dismay at President Yoweri Museveni’s statement during his recent visit to South Africa.
Museveni lashed out at the Western countries for criticising his country for passing a Bill that is likely to impact the rights of the LGBTQI+ community in Uganda.
This decision, along with the closure of the UN Human Rights Office in the country, has led to Museveni’s government being accused of homophobia.
President Museveni lashes out at his critics for being homophobic:
The consortium’s director-general and human rights activist Richard Lusimbo has described Museveni’s remarks as shocking.
“The reality is we have seen, different Christian fundamentalists who have been supporting this hatred and made it their own business, pushing for the bill to be brought to parliament. We have seen the inter-religious council calling upon parliament to pass the anti-social bill. Last week on Friday, in Ginger city just a few kilometres outside Kampala, we had a Muslim community demonstrating against homosexuality.”
New anti-LGBT law
LGBT Ugandans fear their predicament could get even worse. On Tuesday, MP Asuman Basalirwa was given leave of parliament to prepare a new anti-LGBT law that he told Reuters would criminalise a range of activities, including “aiding, abetting, promoting, recruitment (of people) into” homosexuality.
Those provisions would make it similar to an anti-gay law Uganda passed in 2013. The law drew strong condemnation from the United States and other Western donors before it was struck down by a court as unconstitutional in 2014. -Additional reporting by Reuters
