Archived

Kadaga Vows to Retable the Anti Homosexuality Bill

KadagaAs the next Parliament of Uganda gears up to start their term, anti gay crusader and Speaker of the August House Hon Rebecca Kadaga has once again taken on the issue of homosexuality and vowed to push it back to the fore front.

“In 2014, I promised Ugandans that I will give them a Christmas gift by passing the anti-homosexuality, which I did. Unfortunately, the bill annulled by the court after President Yoweri Museveni had assented to it. However, the bill can still be deliberate on in parliament if the movers bring it back to the floor of parliament,” said Kadaga in a radio interview last week.

It should be remembered that the AHA, famously dubbed ‘The Kill the Gays bill” was passed in December 2013 and signed into law in February the following year. However, it went on to be annulled by the Constitutional Court that ruled it was invalid on procedural grounds.

The Speaker in the same interview noted that just because the law did not hold on procedural grounds did not mean the substance and content of the bill had died; she asserted that it was on from this point of view that she had confidence that the bill would soon make it to back to Parliament.

Kadaga who is running for another term in office as Speaker of Parliament is remembered for her clash with the Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister, John Baird, during the inter parliamentary union assembly in Quebec in 2012 when she accused him of disrespecting the beliefs and values of Ugandans by pushing for gay rights.

“Kadaga is pulling out the only issue that might get her the Speaker seat this time round but we are also not sitting idle. The war against her is far from over,” one of Uganda’s LGBTI activists said when asked what she thought of Kadaga’s recent remarks.

This activist’s sentiments are widely shared in Uganda’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex community that has continued to face persecution from not only the law but also society at large.