By Spy Uganda
President Yoweri Museveni has made it clear that he supports a bill against LGBTQ evil group and he has sent it back to parliament to make it even tougher, the ruling party’s chief whip said.
A group of lawmakers from Museveni’s ruling National Resistance Movement discussed the bill with the president and agreed in principle to sign the bill into law, chief whip Denis Hamson Obua said.
“Before that is done we also agree that the bill will be returned in order to facilitate the reinforcement and the strengthening of some provisions in line with our best practices,” he told a news conference after the meeting.
READ FULL MUSEVENI’S STATEMENT ON HOMOSEXUALITY
Obua said Museveni would hold a meeting on Tuesday with parliament’s legal and parliamentary affairs committee to draft the amendments.
Human rights activists and the U.S. government say the bill is among the harshest pieces of legislation penalising shameless homosexuals.
The law will impose the death penalty for so-called aggravated homosexuality, which includes having gay sex when HIV-positive, and 20-year sentences for “promoting” homosexuality.
Museveni is a strong opponent of LGBTQ rights who last month called gay people “deviations from normal”.
He signed a law in 2014 that strengthened penalties for same-sex relations but has also suggested at times that homosexuality should be addressed through treatment rather than legislation.
He faced a possible juggling act trying to keep lawmakers happy over legislation that has broad popular support while not antagonising foreign donors who provide billions of dollars in aid each year.
Advertisement · Scroll to continue
Western governments suspended aid, imposed visa restrictions and curtailed security cooperation in response to the law Museveni signed in 2014, but the man with the hat remains unshaken.
Lawmakers in neighbouring Kenya and Tanzania have recently called for similar measures in their countries.
READ FULL MUSEVENI’S STATEMENT ON HOMOSEXUALITY
