Kadaga Snubs IPU Over Gay rights. Is it time to recognize their rights?

Mable Twegumye Zake - @MableTwegumye

Mable Twegumye Zake

Unimaginable are the days that are yet to befall on Africa when some states will bow to the pressures from human rights entities or “mother states” in Europe or the Americas and pass legislations recognizing homosexuality. Will it be like a dark cloud hovering around the once labelled “dark Continent” because these days are coming, however, the question is whether Africa is ready for them?

When those days come, will Africa have placed human rights over the ageless culture and tradition or even prioritized it over Christianity? A thin line it is that separates the two and the African laws against the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender [LGBT] community which have been labelled draconian and compared to the Nazi in Germany by European states that deem them abusive of human rights.

If it is still considered indecency in the cultured minds of Africans for instance in a country like Uganda to exclusively embrace vices like public display of affection, then it’s no wonder that this conversation of LGBT is not one that so many people want to have.

Even I don’t want to have this conversation but this is a discussion that Uganda and Africa at large needs to have for the elephant in the room is not in the backyards of our homestead but within the bedrooms of our homes and amongst those we love yet they sit with us in silence and sip drinks with us for fear of revealing their status.

My casual attempt to ask a colleague whose name I beg not to disclose about their opinion on homosexuality sent him into a frantic state causing commotion among the whole set up of our surroundings as he expressed hatred towards them yet at the same time he kept saying he knows many people in his circles who are LGBT.

That example is one of a kind that occurs when the subject of LGBT is awakened from its sleep but clearly a conversation that Africa or Uganda to be specific doesn’t want to engage in. The elephant in the room that seems to be ignored but one whose sound will roar as one by one of the wolves in sheep clothing sell their souls to the devil as it appeared to have happened at the Inter Parliamentary Union Assembly in Geneva when a homosexuality file was sneaked into the proceedings.

Uganda’s Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga accused the European Nations for trying to sneak in the amendment to protect the human rights of the LGBT people but it is a wonder about how many leaders or African nations are in the pockets of these European nations.

Is Africa strong enough or independent to guard itself against vices of the western world or is it actually as vulnerable as it was bound by the history that changed it by the coming of the “white man” that brought Christianity of which some nations are using as defenses against recognizing the LGBT yet the same belief was against many African cultural and traditional practices which many have been cast away.

Since 2015 according to the Pew Research Center more than two dozen countries have introduced legislation legalizing same sex-marriage mostly in Europe and Americas with Africa seemingly a no go territory. Is it a no-go territory because there are no LGBT leaving among us or they are just minority groups of people that are believed will one day fade out?

Hiding children born outside of marriage won’t take away the fact they are your children; whether you care for them under a different roof or completely abandon them, fate reveals them and whether you are alive or dead for when this happens there are always consequences either way.

Mother Africa whose culture and traditions we all uphold, you need to wake up because the LGBT live among us yet we are living in a fairy tale. A world that wishes it is not someone you know or love but the reality is it is already someone close to you but can’t come out in the open. The seed is growing among us with no sensitization at all outside the walls of our houses yet allaying our fears of the allegations of the indoctrinations in single-sex schools, the organized camps by the LGBTs’, the confessions that are covered up in churches by men of the cloak and many that have littered the news but now can’t because of the numerous media bans against reporting on LGBT.

Before your neighbors knock on your door to tell you about the character of your children, sit your children down and have a deep conversation with them and listen. Governments in Africa should open up the conversation with the LGBT community and the human rights activists to better understand their story.

Dalton Kaweesa - @DaltonKaweesa

Dalton Kaweesa

I have heard human rights activists speak about gay rights so passionate in this country, and aggressively defend the right of these minorities. I don’t know about you , but I have also had the privilege to talk to these individuals in private when the human rights activism mask is peeled off.

Casually I would ask whether it okay for some girl or lad I know of pick interest in members of their own families – you don’t wanna know the expression. More often upon posing that question , silence descends to point of hearing a pin drop , Faces turn blue, and heave in anger. But why the double standards! This forms the crust of my discussion. One of the delights of culture is that it eventually evolves. Let’s admit the gay rights is something that makes bones of even the dead in the African setting shift in their graves.

The argument here by pro sexual minorities is predicable , it is their right. During my Master’s class , a heated debate unfolded on universality of human rights. And who determines that?

Are rights in Nigeria , Kenya , Botswana as the same as those in this Uganda? You will agree with me that there is nothing like a universal rights. Rights are actually according to the society and yes of course society evolves. Until the 1970s the blacks in America had rights limited to a point that they couldn’t use certain facilities , although some segregation exists , there are strides.

The God given promise in this country is the issues comes up naturally and there are not enforced onto anyone- by extension should uganda’s society start appreciating the rights if the sexual minorities, it is going to be easy for our society to appreciate.

For anyone who has followed evolution of Ugandan society they will appreciate that it is very conservative even when it flatters with liberalization. And here is where the pro-gay lose the debate, often when asked about how it is ‘unafrican’ for same sex to marry or even have an affair, they rush to say that some of the kings in the country actually were gay. Excuse me, how did you land on such a verdict. Further interrogation of this assertion only confirms one thing that the authenticity of the claim is speculative.

The fact that we have not traced this acts in our forefathers is telling of how is gonna be a tall order for anyone to think that the rights of these minority sexy people will see the chambers of Uganda’s parliament. Wishful thinking just! Anyone pushing this kind of argument is really blind to figures.

According to the 2014 census, over 84 percent of the population was Christian while about 14 percent of the population adhered to Islam. This show how Uganda is largely a religious country. To bring the argument home, the president was forced to phone Archbishop of kampala Dr. Cyprian Lwanga just because the latter made comments on the nature of spies in this country. This is telling of how the church wields a lot of power in this country. The indoctrination of the church among the population is so much so that, one of the respected NBS television journalists Simon Kaggwa Njala, a fairly rad man , recently vowed to die for his religion – Catholicism. It therefore begs the question ,if a fairly educated guy can take such a stunt , how about the illiterate but religious bottom million in this country?

As long as these cultural and religious institutions remain as strong as they are in this country , the quest to have open minds on gay matters will remains a fairly tale. And a quick quip, if Ugandans are to appreciate the sexual minorities, no one will seek heavy investment, illicit reading material every thing will just fall into place.