Ugandan man wanted under ‘Kill the Gays bill’

By Our Reporter

The Uganda Anti-Homosexuality Act, 2014 (previously called the “Kill the Gays bill” in the western mainstream media due to death penalty clauses proposed in the original version) was passed by the Parliament of Uganda, December 20, 2013 with life in prison substituted for the death penalty.

The bill was signed into law by the President of Uganda Yoweri Museveni on February 24, 2014.

On 1 August 2014, however, the Constitutional Court of Uganda ruled the act invalid on procedural grounds.

President Yoweri Museveni then put the harsh anti-gay legislation on hold while he seeks advice from American scientists on whether homosexuality is caused by nature or nurture.

However, whereas the President put this on hold and on the advice of the Judiciary, authorities still continue to haunt same-sex practice.

For example, in November 2019, Ugandan police, in an operation arrested over 100 same-sex practitioners.

The operation around Kampala’s city center, they arrested 120 people suspected to have been using narcotics.

However, members of the LGBT community said it was a health meeting that police interrupted.

Patrick Onyango, the Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesperson, told the media that they received intelligence information that the site of the raid — The Ram Bar — was used as a massage parlor during day and for smoking opium and shisha during the night.

Frank Mugisha, the executive director Sexual Minorities Uganda, said the arrests were based on trumped up charges by the police.

“We don’t know what will happen next. I think we are still looking at the worst. I think its totally aimed at intimidation of the LGBT Community,” he said. “The police is coming up with trumped up charges. I don’t think all 120 people were publicly smoking. So, we are waiting for court tomorrow and see what happens.”

Against the above background, Twaha Athuman is being hunted. The police say Twaha was, between May 2019 and December 2019-coordinating same-sex activities in Kampala and the neighboring towns of Wakiso and Mukono Municipalities and towns but that he evaded arrest and went into hiding. Onyango confirmed a hunt for Twaha saying when arrested and proved beyond reasonable doubts that he (Twaha) practices same-sex relations, Twaha will be charged for practicing unnatural offences.

The act, under which Twaha is being hunted, broadens the criminalization of same-sex relations in Uganda domestically. It also includes provisions about persons outside of Uganda who are charged with violating the act, asserting that they may be extradited to Uganda for punishment there. The act also includes penalties for individuals, companies, and non-governmental organizations that aid or abet same-sex sexual acts, including conducting a gay marriage. Furthermore, the act enables the Ugandan government to rescind international and regional commitments it deems outside of the interest of the act’s provisions.

Same-sex relationships have been illegal in Uganda since British colonial rule – as they are in many African countries – and before this Act was passed, they were punishable by incarceration in prison for up to 14 years.