By: Mwanje Gideon
We may have underlooked the quote from Albert Einstein that ‘I fear the day when the technology overlaps with our humanity. The world will only have a generation of idiots.’ We may not have construed the meaning of technology, but now with technology’s advancement, the world has forgotten humanity.
In the trending news, the President of Uganda assented to the Anti-Homosexuality Act on 26 May 2023. It is prudent to remember that earlier in 2014, the court struck out the anti-LGBTQ Law on procedural impropriator grounds. This was in the case of Oloka-Onyango & 9 Ors v Attorney General (Constitutional Petition No. 8 of 2014) [2014] UGSC 14 (1 August 2014) court argued that the act of the 9th Parliament in enacting the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2014 on 20 December 2013 without quorum in the House is inconsistent with and in contravention of Articles 2(1) and (2) and 88 of the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda 1995 and Rule 23 of the Parliamentary Rules of Procedure and thus null and void.
That the Rt. Hon. Speaker of not entertaining the objection that there was no quorum was an illegality under Rule 23 of the Rules of Procedure, which tainted the enacting process and rendered it a nullity. The Act itself, so enacted for this reason, was unconstitutional. This was preceded by a series of events including the Western governments suspending aid to Uganda, and other sanctions, including the imposition of visa restrictions and security cooperation.
This new law has come after a long run of hide-and-seek games between the three arms of Government. For legislators, it has been a walking bomb just waiting to explode in the nick of time. The Anti- Homosexuality Act is by no means the first strict law against the Western LGBTQ as far as African norms and customs are concerned, and Uganda sets a precedent. It has come when many homosexuality hullabaloos are being heard in schools and other gathering places.
It was just in a matter of time the BBC reported that “Uganda’s government has resisted pressure to drop the legislation.”
It further averred that Uganda’s ‘progress in tackling HIV is in “grave jeopardy” after the President approved tough new anti-homosexuality legislation, the UN and US have warned.
They still emphasized that this Law is still among the harshest anti-LGBTQ laws in the world. Moreover, there’s a confrontation that the convicted faces life imprisonment and the death penalty for so-called aggravated cases, which include having gay sex with someone below the age of 18 or where someone is infected with a life-long illness, including HIV.
It further provided that the US President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar), UN Aids and the Global Fund were deeply concerned about the “harmful impact” of the legislation. Mr Biden also said Washington was considering “additional steps, including the application of sanctions and restriction of entry into the United States against anyone involved in serious human rights abuses or corruption”.