- Some of the provisions of the law include death penalty for aggravated homosexuality upon conviction.
- The law also calls for 20 years jail term for convicts of the practice and 20 years for those promoting the vice.
Image: STATE HOUSE UGANDA/TWITTER
The threat of heavy sanction against Uganda by the US in response to the strict Anti-Homosexuality law the country’s president has enacted could be a warning shot to Kenya.
President Yoweri Museveni assented to the legislation this week, signalling one of the most stringent legal regime against the practice of homosexuality in the East African nation, and drawing the anger of human rights activists in the region and governments in the West.
Some of the provisions of the law include death penalty for aggravated homosexuality upon conviction, 20 years jail term for convicts of the practice and 20 years for those promoting the vice.
Also, the law provides for 20 years jail term for those convicted of promoting the practice, 20 years for those recruiting and indoctrinating children into it, 14 years for attempted aggravated homosexuality and 10 years for owner of a premise where the act is promoted.
It does not spare children engaging in the act, giving them up to three years of jail term upon conviction.
For media houses publishing contents that promote or seek to normalise the practice of homosexuality, the law imposes a fine of Sh1 billion and 10 years revocation of their license.
Before the ink of Museveni's signature dried on the bill, a swift condemnation from the West.
US President Joe Biden has directed his National Security Council to re-evaluate its programmes that had Uganda in mind. This could portend re-direction of projects, funding priorities and areas of collaboration with the country.
But if Homa Bay Town MP Peter Kaluma has his way through a bill he has tabled in the National Assembly, the backlash Uganda is facing could be Kenya’s lot in the near future.
Majority of MPs — backed by religious groups — have voiced enthusiasm in support of the anti-gay bill, asserting that Kenya must retain its conservative values.
In a fractured Kenya's relationship with the West, a number of partnerships could be in the line, including the current negotiation to replace African Growth and Opportunity Act with a trade deal.
Other funding arrangement could also be nixed, including major infrastructural projects, security collaborations and other services.
Kaluma has drafted what he titled as Family Protection Bill that criminalises homosexuality, same-sex marriage and LGBTQ behaviours.
The Bill also criminalises promotion, recruitment and funding of homosexuality and LGBTQ activities in the country.
The lawmaker also wants comprehensive sexuality education banned in primary and secondary schools, calling them means of indoctrination of young minds into same-sex relations and normalisation of the behaviours.
"I have submitted the Family Protection Bill to the National Assembly. It seeks to ban comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) in Pre-primary, primary and secondary schools education programs," he said at one point.
The Bill gives the parents and guardians the exclusive right to determine the contents their children are taught in schools.
It also wants the state to limit rights to assembly, demonstration, association, expression, belief, privacy, and employment in childcare institutions in respect of homosexual convicts.
When the news broke that the Ugandan leader had enacted the bill into law, the MP tweet his excitement, saying that the West should cancel any visa they so wished.
“Male and Female He created them! God looked down and He was pleased by what he created... Beautiful! Those who go for the exhaust are perverts! Africa has no room for homosexuality - Let the West cancel our visas and keep their Sodom and Gomorrah countries to themselves!,” he tweeted.
Human right groups in Kenya have not been left behind in condemning the Ugandan law, pledging solidarity with the homosexuals.
The lobbyists, led by Kenya Human Rights Commission, said they stand with the members of the LGBTQ community in Uganda, urging the country’s Parliament to “reconsider the regressive law”.
“We voice our profound appreciation for the LGBTQ community in Uganda, who now face increased threat to their safety, wellbeing and human rights," the statement, signed by three other entities, reads.
"We urge the Ugandan Parliament to reconsider this regressive legislation and immediately repeal this the Anti-Homosexuality Act, ensuring the protection and inclusion of all its citizens regardless of their sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.”