KAMPALA: Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni was meeting lawmakers from his party on Thursday to discuss a strict anti-LGBTQ bill ahead of a deadline to sign it, veto it or send it back to parliament for revisions.
Human rights activists and the U.S. government say the bill is among the harshest pieces of legislation penalising sexual minorities anywhere in the world. The United Nations, European Union and a long list of corporate giants have condemned it.
It would impose the death penalty for so-called aggravated homosexuality, which includes having gay sex when HIV-positive, and 20-year sentences for “promoting” homosexuality.
Its passage last month with near unanimous support in parliament has already triggered a wave of arrests, evictions and mob attacks against LGBTQ Ugandans, members of the community say.
By law, Museveni has 30 days from when parliament sent him the bill to weigh in. The bill was passed on March 21 but it is not clear when it was transmitted to Museveni.
Lawmakers from his National Resistance Movement party left the parliament building in buses at about 1 p.m. (1000 GMT) for the meeting at the Kololo Ceremonial Grounds in Kampala.
Museveni, a strong opponent of LGBTQ rights who last month called gay people “deviations from normal”, has not indicated what he plans to do.
He signed a law in 2014 that stiffened penalties for same-sex relations but has also suggested at times that homosexuality should be addressed through treatment rather than legislation.
He faces 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.
Western governments suspended aid, imposed visa restrictions and curtailed security cooperation in response to a law Museveni signed in 2014 that stiffened penalties for same-sex relations.
That law was nullified within months by a domestic court on procedural grounds.
One of the MPs on his way to the meeting, Kwizera Eddie Wagahungu, said he expected Museveni to either sign the bill or send it back to parliament with suggested amendments meant to avoid a successful court challenge.
“When I look at his mind. .. he is agreed to the bill but what he has been advised is some provisions … contradict the existing laws,” Wagahungu told Reuters.
Same-sex relations are already illegal in Uganda, as they are in more than 30 African countries, but proponents of the new bill said stronger legislation was needed to combat the threat homosexuality presents to traditional family values.
Lawmakers in neighbouring Kenya and Tanzania have recently called for similar measures in their countries.
A coalition of international companies, including Google, criticised the legislation last month, warning it would put those with operations in Uganda in an impossible position and hurt the country’s economy.
Human rights activists and the U.S. government say the bill is among the harshest pieces of legislation penalising sexual minorities anywhere in the world. The United Nations, European Union and a long list of corporate giants have condemned it.
It would impose the death penalty for so-called aggravated homosexuality, which includes having gay sex when HIV-positive, and 20-year sentences for “promoting” homosexuality.
Its passage last month with near unanimous support in parliament has already triggered a wave of arrests, evictions and mob attacks against LGBTQ Ugandans, members of the community say.
By law, Museveni has 30 days from when parliament sent him the bill to weigh in. The bill was passed on March 21 but it is not clear when it was transmitted to Museveni.
Lawmakers from his National Resistance Movement party left the parliament building in buses at about 1 p.m. (1000 GMT) for the meeting at the Kololo Ceremonial Grounds in Kampala.
Museveni, a strong opponent of LGBTQ rights who last month called gay people “deviations from normal”, has not indicated what he plans to do.
He signed a law in 2014 that stiffened penalties for same-sex relations but has also suggested at times that homosexuality should be addressed through treatment rather than legislation.
He faces 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.
Western governments suspended aid, imposed visa restrictions and curtailed security cooperation in response to a law Museveni signed in 2014 that stiffened penalties for same-sex relations.
That law was nullified within months by a domestic court on procedural grounds.
One of the MPs on his way to the meeting, Kwizera Eddie Wagahungu, said he expected Museveni to either sign the bill or send it back to parliament with suggested amendments meant to avoid a successful court challenge.
“When I look at his mind. .. he is agreed to the bill but what he has been advised is some provisions … contradict the existing laws,” Wagahungu told Reuters.
Same-sex relations are already illegal in Uganda, as they are in more than 30 African countries, but proponents of the new bill said stronger legislation was needed to combat the threat homosexuality presents to traditional family values.
Lawmakers in neighbouring Kenya and Tanzania have recently called for similar measures in their countries.
A coalition of international companies, including Google, criticised the legislation last month, warning it would put those with operations in Uganda in an impossible position and hurt the country’s economy.