Uganda made international headlines again this week. Not for launching a major project that is the first of its kind in sub-Saharan Africa or eliminating government bureaucracy to enhance opportunity and unlock funding into major income generating activities, but for passing two naïve and discriminatory laws against sections of people in the society. This is probably a good time for me to clearly state that I am strongly against the promotion, recruitment or open exhibitionism of homosexuality, but I also do not support the idea of regulating what two consenting adults prefer to do in private regardless of their sexual orientation. I also have nothing but contempt for anyone who thinks they should dictate how a woman should dress. This unfortunate attempt to impose radical moralism on unwilling people is what I see enshrined in the two infamous laws; The Anti-Pornography Law and the Anti-Homosexuality Law.
Article 21(1) of the Constitution of Uganda, the Supreme law of the land states that; “All persons are equal before and under the law in all spheres of political, economic, social and cultural life and in every other respect and shall enjoy equal protection of the law.” It goes on to say in clause 2 of the same article that, “Without prejudice to clause (1) of this article, a person shall not be discriminated against on the grounds of sex, race, colour, ethnic origin, tribe, birth, creed or religion, social or economic standing, political opinion or disability.” This article demands of the government to not only commit but actually uphold and protect the rights of all Ugandans without discrimination.
With all the problems Uganda is facing at this time in form of youth unemployment to the tune of 84%, an ailing and depressing health sector, a 20th century education system that churns out graduates without any current market skills at all, murder of police officers, 4% annual population growth with about 20% of the population living on less than a dollar per day, wars all around the neighbourhood, one would think that our government has sufficient priorities other than getting concerned about how people dress or who they are sleeping with.
Our government seems to be majoring in the minors while minoring in the majors. No wonder the citizens look at politicians as just greedy and corrupt individuals seeking to enrich themselves and perpetuate their stay in power. The law of unintended consequences did not take long to kick in. Ladies were being attacked, humiliated, undressed and robbed in downtown Kampala for wearing “Mini-skirts”, due to the ambiguous and broad description of indecent dressing advanced by the Minister of Ethics (who is a Catholic priest by the way) and exacerbated by our media which either mistakenly or out of sheer irresponsibility conveyed the wrong idea that the “Mini-skirt” had been outlawed. It took the efforts of women activists, the Honourable Speaker of Parliament and The Prime Minister to curb the abhorrent mob justice that was being committed against innocent ladies in the name of ‘enforcing’ a ridiculous law.
There was no civic education or civic engagement about these laws. Hours after signing the Anti-Homosexuality Bill into Law, reports were circulating around social media of men living in the same house, some siblings or just friends, being threatened with violence by self-righteous bigots accusing them of being gay and therefore out of order. One can only hope that with time, we will not witness the same witch hunt as seen in Nigeria where suspected gay people were beaten and their homes burnt by mobs without a shred of evidence.
While other countries in the region get serious on Infrastructure projects, education, health care and ICT, Uganda is training MPs on how to use iPads (which by the way, come with user manuals), urging the president to stand unopposed for a fifth term, passing redundant laws and protecting the corrupt from prosecution.
The passing of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill and subsequent signing by the President has sparked off a series of threats of and actual Aid cuts to the country. Norway, Denmark and Netherlands have announced such cuts to a tune of more than $30 Million to Uganda in budget and sector support. The US is also apparently reviewing their Aid as well. Personally, I think this is absurd. It is ridiculous to punish an ordinary citizen on the street for the sins of their government which they may not have a direct hand in. Why should a mother in a rural area of Uganda lose her life while giving birth all because the government of her nation has refused to accept gay rights? How are the two related? Why should a child contract HIV/AIDS at birth and be condemned to death because of the actions of a few politicians who have decided not to soothe the egos of their fellow leaders in the West? I stand to be corrected but I am convinced that it is a skewed idea to peg foreign aid that helps real people with real problems to the petty actions of corrupt politicians. Unless of course aid is just a foreign policy tool that works as leverage to hold African nations hostage to assume positions they do not agree with.
If that’s the case, then how do the providers of aid differ from those who had initially proposed to kill the gay people? The west needs to find better ways to convince Africans to accept gays. Otherwise, issuing threats will only create more Zimbabwe cases. With all the years of no aid and sanctions, Robert Mugabe is still president and Zimbabweans are still suffering without any hope of democratisation. So what did the sanctions and aid cuts achieve? The Aid cuts will only serve to strengthen patriotism, African pride and will fuel further hatred for the west will also complicate the strategic regional security partnerships. I hope the west is smart enough to realize this.
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