'Anti-Human Sacrifice' Bill 2020 passed by Parliament

Parliament has passed the long-awaited protection and prohibition of Human Sacrifice Bill 2020, instituting a death penalty to perpetrators.

The bill, once assented to by the president will see anyone who exercises or finances the act of human sacrifice, liable to the death penalty.

To the legislators, the use of human sacrifice is a primitive culture and proprietors should be tried before the court martial.

Speaker Kadaga said families of the victims of human sacrifice have always asked her for justice, and she hopes that the new bill, once signed by President Museveni, will bring justice to the families of those who lose loved ones to human sacrifice acts.

"Many times they have asked me, where is justice for Kasirye? That young boy who was sacrificed in the Kato Kajubi case as you remember," Kadaga said.

State Minister for Planning David Bahati said that the punishment should be strengthened further for all those who involve themselves in sacrificing people.

According to the bill, anyone who spreads belief in human sacrifice for financial reward and gain, encouraging any person to use human body parts in any ritual, encourages any person to sacrifice and encouraging another person to do any act prohibited under this bill, will have committed crime.

The bill also provides that non government organisations may compliment government in providing social support to survivors of human sacrifice.

Owners of companies involved in transportation of people with an intention of human sacrifice abroad will also have committed an offence and could face life imprisonment.

Legislators argued that although the vice of human sacrifice was on an increase, the law has not caught up with the evolving nature of the matter.

Bahati told Parliament that cabinet is working on a law that will regulate donation of human organs that are meant for health purposes.