The chairperson of PAHRD-Net, Hassan Shire Sheikh, said the 3-year project will aim to met the protection needs of human rights defenders, especially those working on issues of sexual orientation and gender identity, those under oppressive regimes or in armed or post-conflict areas, and those that engage with natural resource and extractive industries.

“We shall be providing support to HRDs by getting them lawyers, giving them medical support in case one is injured, and family support if, for example, one is incapacitated or dies during the struggle. And if one is persecuted by their countries or is at risk from other persons we shall be able to help them get international asylum or protection,” Hassan said.

The programme is supported by the European Commission under the Global Fund of the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights.

Robert Ridolfi, the European ambassador to Uganda, who launched the project on Feb. 4 in Kampala, noted that the anti-homosexuality bill currently before parliament is scaring away investors who believe in the protection of human rights.

“How can any investor come to Uganda if there is no rule of law and a lot of discrimination? Human rights are human rights, we have to protect all of them not some,” Ridolfi said.

Zaid Tawab, the deputy director of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, representing the North Africa Human Rights Defenders Network, noted that Africa is to face more violence and unrest as a result of human rights abuses.

“When you don’t acknowledge citizens’ rights and respect of human rights we shall keep in violence and turmoil. That’s why you see violence in North Africa, people are oppressed but they have to fight for their rights,” Tawab said.

PAHRD-Net, which has headquarters in Kampala, brings together five sub-regional human rights defender networks, one each  from the central, north, south, and east of the continent, and one from the Horn of Africa. Representatives of the five networks and members of the PAHRD-Net steering committee were at the launch of the project.

Meddie Kagwa, the chairman Uganda Human Rights Commission, said his organisation will defend the rights of people.

Human rights defenders are individuals working alone or through organisations to promote respect for universal human rights norms.

Across Africa, human rights defenders are often the victims of harassment, threats, assault, injury and death and many are forced into exile.

In Uganda, people living with mental health problems are a common sight at garbage dumps where they scavenge for food. Shunned by most of society, many are homeless and spend their days walking from one end of the street to another or just sitting by the roadside.

However, Monday (19 November) was different in Fort Portal, Kabarole District, Uganda.

Mr Zebidayo Mwesige Mukwiki, through the Tooro Cultural Research Development (TCRD), brought 30 homeless people living with mental health issues to eat with 100 persons with disabilities and other vulnerable persons at Gardens Restaurant. The group were all offered clean clothes to wear and offered haircuts. After the meal they danced to blaring music.

Getting the group together was not an easy task. However, Mr Mukwiki succeeded after two weeks of trying to first befriend some with food and sometimes money.

He said:  “We realised that the government and NGOs had not come up to help the ‘mentally-disturbed’ people so we had to find a way to help them.

“I would find them in their different places and talk to them in a friendly way, give them money and buy them some edibles, which made them become my friends. All we need to do is to understand that these people are human and treat them that way by giving them comfort and care.”

The rare event attracted scores of residents who watched in amazement. Many in the crowd wondered how people normally seen “living wild” in the streets were kept in the same place for over three hours without running away or causing disturbance. But Mr Mukwiki said it is possible to make mentally ill people live happily and normally if they are understood well and treated the right way.

Resident Jane Katusabe said it was a surprise and pleasure to witness the event. She added: “I normally fear these people. I always think they are going to harm me wherever I meet them, but now I believe they deserve better treatment.”

Mr Mukwiki urged the government to support people living with mental health issues, just as it supports persons with disability, the elderly, orphans and youth. He said he would aim to make the gesture a regular occurrence.

A letter to this KC from the inmate dated 7 November, which was smuggled out of the prison by the inmate’s relatives, states that the slow rate of court case disposal is causing congestion. The prisoner says people are spending up to as long as 18 months in custody awaiting trial.

The letter reads: “Nothing tangible is being done except the usual rhetoric, speeches that only end up into news items. Due to congestion prison inmates have only one meal a day. Food and sanitation has not improved. It really leaves much to be desired.

“Convicts and remanded persons are locked up at 16:00 hours to smell human waste from broken sewer mini-holes until the next day at 9:00 hours. Unless sanitation is improved, cholera and scabies may ravage the prison population.”

The prisoner further challenges human rights bodies, non-governmental organisations, churches and government leaders to visit and interview prisoners to find out the challenges being faced.

The letter continues: “This prison is more hell on earth than ever. Can the government please take principal steps to fasten up [sic] disposal of court cases to decongest the prisons rather than the usual political statements we hear through the media?”

“This [the long delay for trials] causes unnecessary congestion as the number of remanded persons is almost half that of convicts. In our neighbouring countries for instance cases are disposed of in 48 hours, can’t we do the same?”

Just when one thinks that Uganda is growing up by leaving alone people who are LGBTI something else emerges that shocks the bold hearted into action.

At the 127th Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Assembly held in Quebec recently a fierce show-down on homosexuality erupted. When John Baird, Canada’s Foreign Minister, reprimanded Uganda for violating the human rights of sexual minorities, Ugandan Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadagga retorted that Uganda was “neither a colony nor protectorate of Canada and as such her sovereignty, societal and cultural norms were to be respected.” She told those gathered that she was not aware the assembly had been summoned to promote gay rights.

Kadagga may have been right about Uganda’s sovereignty but did she really stay abreast of what she said? Telling people about their human rights violations does not equate to colonising them but rather deals with human rights violations. I am sure that Canada is not really interested in colonising Uganda. This was a digressionary tactic and it worked. It always works when applied to sensitive Western countries.

Having lived and worked with several same-sex loving Ugandans I do not understand how anyone who knows the diversity of Ugandan realities can claim that homosexuality is foreign to our culture. For instance, does telling Ugandans about their need to respect the rights of gay persons equate to having them colonised? Perhaps the speaker could have made her point without insinuating that Canada wished to colonise Uganda. Even the constant reference those who oppose LGBTI practices make to homosexuality being a foreign culture imposed on Africans may not be the reality since many people argue that homosexuality existed in the rural Africa before colonialism.

Uganda is now a hotbed for debate on the matter of homosexuality. Everything has not been rosy for the gay rights activists. There was the arrest of David Cecil Edwards, director of The River and the Mountain. The play, written by Beau Hopkins, was banned from showing at Uganda’s National Theatre because it tackles the theme of homosexuality. It also tackles religion and politics and the Uganda Communications Commission would have none of it.

The line-up of people welcoming the Ugandan Speaker of Parliament on her return from Canada was not surprising. These were David Bahati, Member of Parliament for Ndorwa West and mover of the anti-homosexuality bill; Nsaba Buturo, former Minister of Ethics and a very strong critic of LGBTI practice; Revivalist church pastors Martin Ssempa and Pastor Solomon Male, who have both served their time for defaming another church pastor after they accused him of homosexual related practices; Pastor Michael Were, a strong anti-homosexual lobby leader, and of course numerous Ugandans carrying posters that read Revive the anti- homosexuality bill, Ban homosexuals, Uganda is not a colony of Canada and You (Speaker) are our saviour, we want the bill now.

Conspicuously absent was the Uganda Minister of Ethics, Father Simon Lokodo, who has had a rough ride with human rights activists and the LGBTI community after being dragged to court for disbanding gay conferences.

The unfortunate thing about the Canada/Uganda homosexual debacle is the anger that has emanated out of the whole saga. The Ugandan Speaker seems to have been so angered that on her arrival at Entebbe Airport she told her admirers, who were congratulating her for bravely facing off a Canadian minister, that she was now going to expedite the anti-homosexuality bill.

Bad enough is also the fact that Jovah Kamateka, another member in the Ugandan parliament, is calling for a referendum to decide the fate of LGBTI in Uganda. It is not hard to guest how Ugandans would vote in such a matter.

Every top Ugandan politician that supports the anti-homosexuality bill says we do not need donor money. But of course Uganda needs donor money and Uganda will listen to whatever the donors tell it. The donor money is used by such institutions as parliament, the police, the army, the judiciary and many more. Surely, the speaker and all the other politicians are not speaking for the Uganda treasury when they say ‘to hell with donor money’?

The African Press Organisation reports that a draft UN resolution against female genital mutilation has been submitted by a group of African countries.

The announcement was made by Italy’s Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi during a conference at the Senate on this subject, organised by the Italian Association for Women in Development (AIDOS) and Amnesty International.

The assembly is expected to possibly approve the resolution before the end of the year.

Behind this draft resolution lies years of work at the United Nations, by many countries.

“At the UN, Italy coordinates the European countries in the working groups dealing with this problem,” explained Terzi, who told the conference of Italy’s firm commitment to the campaign.

“Since 2004 we have organised an infinite number of meetings on this issue. Female genital mutilation is always high on the agenda in our bilateral meetings with African nations.”

The Minister reminded the conference that the problem “is not far removed from Italy. Indeed, it is present here, through female immigrants from African countries.”

Italy has a law governing against female genital mutilation, which is considered to be one of the world’s most advanced.

Terzi’s added: “Many African countries are engaged at the individual level in fighting this scourge. But to have moved from action at the national level to a global commitment, through the UN resolution, has been a considerable and significant step.”

Kanakulya Godfrey, who works at the AIDS support Organisation (TASO) in Uganda on empowerment programmes for people living with HIV and AIDS, says stigma may have reduced in communities but it is always there and can manifest itself in many forms.

HIV stigma in Ugandan health facilities

With integration of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and HIV, stigma is an important area to address. There are very serious issues resulting from stigma that affect people living with HIV (PLHIV), commercial sex workers, the youth and men who have sex with men (MSM). The greatest challenge to preventing stigma in health facilities is that it is entrenched in many health workers’ attitudes – yet these are the people who are meant to provide vital services for the groups most at risk to HIV.

Kanakulya said: “Of course we would like to have zero stigma but we see it in care every time PLHIV are confronted with the need to care. Some people still have those misconceptions that PLHIV are the outcasts of society who should not be touched or taken care of.

“As a person who frequents health facilities in urban and rural Uganda, there is no doubt about the existence of stigmatising situations in facilities. I have seen health workers pointing fingers and whisper unfriendly remarks at PLHIV, even in what are considered to be the best HIV facilities, which integrate SRH and HIV services.”

With such observations, can health facilities within Sub Saharan Africa also provide services where all people irrespective of their status are freely attended to without any forms of discrimination? This seems very unlikely in the short term, but there is definitely need for a way forward.

Studies on forms of HIV stigma

Following the release of the People Living with Stigma Index, based on research carried out in Malawi and the United Kingdom, a team of scholars followed up key reflections shared by researchers who were involved in the index survey. Their findings have now been compiled in a book chapter by Stackpool-Moore, et al (2012) An Antidote to Stigma: The People Living with HIV Stigma in Malawi and the United Kindom (UK).

The book notes that: “The process (of participation, of consultation and of understanding documenting human rights realities) can be just as important as the product or outcome.”

Lately, programming for people lving with HIV have relied on models based on the greater involvement of people living with Aids and the meaningful involvement of people living with AIDS, known respectively as the GIPA and MIPA frameworks, where networks of people living with HIV have been at the forefront for prevention and treatment support.

Stackpool-Moore, et al (2012) observe that such principles can be a strong basis for reducing stigma, especially since such a principles enable communities to organise and build themselves  for an effective intervention for HIV and related stigma.

But again, with a bigger and more dynamic complex reality, they wonder whether the GIPA and MIPA models are enough to meet the needs of very different lives in diverse social contexts touched by HIV. They identify HIV related stigma that can have an impact at three key levels: the personal, where self-stigma manifests in different ways; services, where stigma creates a barrier to accessing health services such as HIV prevention and treatment; structurally, where stigma reinforces power inequalities and affects the dynamic interplay between individuals and the social structures that influence their lives.

Stackpool-Moore, et al (2012) also argue that “Stigma relating to HIV still remains a significant challenge, because it has an impact on the accessibility and orientation of services (not only health but also legal, care and support services) and the general quality of life.”

But on a positive note, stigma is seen as able to “Trigger positive forces for change and networks of solidarity that rise to challenge the social norms and practices that marginalise, stigmatise and discriminate.”

The authors conclude that, to perform the kind of personal and social change necessary to overcome stigma, our efforts need to engage conscious attitudes as well as those less conscious. To effectively address a complex multilevel concern like HIV-related stigma, a complex multilevel solution is needed. The authors argue we need to: “Look beyond HIV, to engage wider issues of discrimination, marginalisation, racism, homophobia and other social injustices.”

How IPPF addresses HIV stigma for effective programming

One of the authors mentioned in this study is Lucy Stackpool-Moore, an HIV officer with International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), who made further clarifications on their approach to stigma in programming for key populations at higher risk:

“At IPPF, our projects and other initiatives are aimed at all clients whether they are MSM, sex workers, lesbians, young or old, women and men. We also work with our providers so that they can provide services which are stigma free. We work institutionally around having HIV policy to ensure that staff and providers are aware of HIV and that they are respectful of colleagues who may be HIV positive.”

She adds that IPPF want their staff and providers to be able to ask the right questions but in the right way, so they can provide a comprehensive range of services to a diverse range of clients.

She continues: “We are also seeking to provide the best and quality services to people who might be marginalised by the law, like networks of LGBTI and sex workers. We start with what populations need and we look at how best we can provide the services without stigmatising them. We believe that each client has a right to access services irrespective of their differences.”

Reference

Stackpool-Moore, L., M.L. Chirwa, S. de Croy, A. Hudson, D. Kamkwamba, R. Kundecha, P. Mahaka, S. Onyango & E. Sinyemu. ‘An antidote to stigma? The People Living with HIV Stigma Index in Malawi and the United Kingdom (UK) (2012). In P. Chittagong (ed), Cross-cultural reflection on stigma. Melbourne: Springer.

I hear: “You should have counted the costs before you tried this game.” Momentarily I think someone is paying for a mistake they made. I almost whisper to myself: “serves them right” but a new-born baby’s cry and a sigh of relief make me realise I am standing right behind a hospital’s maternity-wing. A woman has just given birth.

Joyce* clings onto her baby with so much fondness. She has endured too much in the past nine months to be frightened by harsh words from nurses at the infamous Pumwani Maternity Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya. During her antenatal check ups things weren’t any better. She would be screamed at, sent from one room to another, and would be kept waiting for hours.

Despite the obscene insults from nurses still reverberating in her ears she can’t help but smile at the precious bundle in her arms. But one promise she makes: “You are my first and last baby; I can never go through this humiliating episode again!”

In Kenya, comfort and compassion during delivery is an expensive affair. Women who cannot afford to pay for admission to private facilities to deliver are subjected to verbal and physical abuse at the hands of health providers in general hospitals.

In the findings of research carried out by the Center for Reproductive Health-USA and the Federation of Women Lawyers in Kenya (FIDA) between November 2006 and May 2007 to establish the extent of violations to mothers in labour pain, it was evident that women in Kenya have a high risk of dying of pregnancy-related causes and are subject to human rights abuses during pregnancy and labour.

The findings from Failure to deliver prompted the FIDA-Kenya and the Center for Reproductive Health-USA to launch a complaint in 2009  depicting the violation of human rights in Kenyan health facilities. They submitted the complaint to Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) and specifically cited Pumwani Maternity Hospital in Nairobi for a probe. An inquiry on human rights violations in public health facilities was launched last year. Kenyans from many different communities participated in the inquiry whose final report was released in April. During the inquiry women testified on what they had gone through as they were in labour pain.

While in the recommendations of the inquiry it was noted that the government should limit SRH-related costs this remains a huge challenge, and the experience of women attending private and public health care facilities differs greatly as a result. Those women who go to public hospitals will be attended to by over-worked and less compensated health providers. In this case, hostility may occur because the workers are under duress. But in private hospitals the workers will afford compassion to the patients because of the support and motivation they get from their employers.

Dr. Helen Barsosio, a Kenyan medical practitioner, says that while in theory every woman has the right to give birth in dignity in reality this option only exists for the educated and economically well-off. This group of women not only have the money to buy their comfort while delivering but can also voice their grievances should their rights be violated.

Dr. Barsosio says that, while every medical practitioner is under oath to treat all patients with respect and dignity, the same code of ethics can easily be overlooked by a tired, poorly compensated health worker.

Cases of women delivering at the hospital gates assisted by gate-keepers or passersby because they could not afford the admission fees have commonly been reported. Women have lost children or even their lives in such circumstances while their feminine dignity remains trampled on. Dr. Barsosio says that it is sad that Kenyan hospitals have such a sorry reputation and adds that medical practitioners are trained to save lives, hence they should make this their priority.

The KNCHR inquiry report recommends the removal of financial barriers to ensure the services referred to by the government as ‘free’ remain so in reality. Cases where a service is referred to as free only for patients to then be asked to pay for it are common in many public hospitals.

Many women have resorted to traditional birth attendants who are kind and gentle to them and also affordable. Campaigns have been going on to empower traditional birth attendants to act as an alternative to those women who cannot afford private hospitals. But medical practitioners have argued that traditional birth attendants expose themselves to the risk of getting infected should their clients have HIV and do not have the training to deal with the issue of mother to child transmission or other complications. Yet despite TBAs having scant knowledge and experience they are preferred to public hospitals in many rural areas.

“I would rather go to a traditional birth attendant than to a trained nurse in a public hospital. Traditional birth attendants are much more ethical than the nurses!” said one woman who spoke from an ugly experience she had in a public hospital.

Joyce* is not her real name

The sun is scorching and the day does not seem very welcoming for Grace*, a sex worker in Makindu town within Makueni county, Kenya. Yesterday was not a good day for the 24-year-old mother of two. In her sex-work life, she meets different types of clients every day. Some take her to big five-star hotels while others pay her only Ksh 200 (less than $3)! But she has to put bread on the table for herself and her children. With no other source of income foreseen she does sex-work, the challenges that come with the job notwithstanding. Yesterday a client took her to the room, raped and beat her up before robbing her of a phone and some money she had in her handbag. She has woken up full of bruises and a cracking headache.

Not only does Grace need medical treatment but she also needs to report the assault and the robbery to the police. But what awaits her is worse than what she has already gone through. At the hospital, the health service providers glare at her with a look that suggests ‘we-know-you-well.’ Of course she is known here; she comes to this hospital for her refill of anti-retroviral medicine regularly.

After two hours of waiting in pain, one nurse snaps: “So whose husband have you stolen this time?” Grace has to play the good one here if she has to get treatment. She narrated her ordeal to me: “You can’t get treatment here until you bring a police abstract!’ the nurse continues. She goes to the nearest police station and has to answer very embarrassing questions. “In your job you must know how to protect yourself!” a police officer mocks. She is pushed back and forth until she is too tired and feels too defeated to continue with this game. She gives up.

This is not a rare scenario in Kenya. Sex-workers go through traumatising experiences in the hands of service providers and often give up before they receive the intended service. While different bodies have risen up to research and give findings and recommendations on how to treat sex-workers more fairly, the battle is far from being won.

A survey carried out by the Federation of Women Lawyers in Kenya (FIDA) in 2008 sampled areas of Nairobi, Nyanza Rift Valley and Eastern Provinces. It revealed that sex-workers are vulnerable to discrimination because they barely understand their rights. Five years after the survey little has been done to address stigma against sex workers, according to FIDA’s senior program officer Annie Ireri. Unintended pregnancies and subsequent unsafe abortions are still rampant since sex-workers shy away from health facilities because of the ill treatment they receive.

Ireri says that more intensified sensitisation for the sex workers is required to enable them to realise that, regardless of their line of work, they are equal human beings who have the right to good health and health services. She observes that, while different organisations have come up to educate sex-workers on skills to negotiate for safer sex as a prevention measure against HIV/STI and unintended pregnancies, most sex-workers are misinformed on what to do should their rights be violated.

While condoms are a major HIV/STI prevention measure, further research by FIDA, which was launched early this year but is yet to be validated, found that condoms are being used as evidence against sex workers in prosecution.

“This frustrates the efforts of organizations that supply condoms to sex workers in a prevention bid,” says Annie.

George Khisa is a project manager at HOPE Worldwide Kenya, an organisation that works closely with most at risk populations, among them sex workers. He points out that police harass sex workers for carrying condoms. They use this as evidence that they are engaged in sex work, which is illegal in Kenya. This thwarts prevention efforts since sex workers fear carrying condoms even though it is their health right to do so.

“We encourage sex-workers to carry condoms in order to protect themselves and their clients from infections and unintended pregnancies,” says George.

Sex-workers face stigma accompanied by derogatory names and physical assaults from their clients. A report of a public inquiry into violations of sexual reproductive health rights in Kenya released in April this year condems harassment of sex-workers in health facilities and other quarters by citing the Universal Declaration on Human Rights: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights” (Article 1 of the Human rights Declaration of Human Rights).

As different organisations continue calling for interventions to protect sex-workers, hostility remains rife in many health facilities, meaning more unintended pregnancies are conceived and more unsafe abortions procured.

(Grace is not the case-study’s real name.)

Over 70 widows and orphans appealed during the meeting with a team of lawyers from  Human Rights Awareness and Promotion Forum (HRAPF) at Nabwendo health center III in Muwanga sub-county on Thursday (16 August).

One widow, Margaret Nansubuga, said they continue to witness widespread human rights abuses.

She said that apart from stigma, discrimination and gender based violence the property left behind for widows and orphans is being grabbed by relatives and friends.

Margaret said local leaders have sided with their tormentors as it is alleged they can dish them with bribes.

“Poor as we are, we cannot offer bribes to our local leaders to defend us, as a result we have remained vulnerable. Please, what we request from human rights defenders is help,” she said.

The meeting coincided with the launch of a human rights advocacy project run by HRAPF to strengthen the legal, human rights and policy response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the district.

The project, being implemented in Luwero, Mityana, Mpigi, Nakaseke and now Kiboga, intends to contribute to the empowerment of women and girls infected and affected by HIV/AIDS to protect and defend their rights using the law.

Julius Ssentamu, the project coordinator, said 26 complaints raised during the meeting had been taken over by the lawyers to be freely pursued by them.

Julius said that apart from pursuing court cases, they are also to carry out a district-wide sensitization of widows and orphans on their rights.

Coincidentally all these bills have a strong bearing on the health and human rights of sections of the Uganda population. But it is the anti-homosexuality bill – a bill that seeks to criminalise consensual adult sexual relationships – that has caused the most excitement, uproar and international condemnation.

The excitement exhibited by the Uganda members of parliament when tabling the anti- homosexuality bill can only be comparable to that of school children receiving a truckload of ice cream. They shouted, they cajoled members, and vowed to ‘crush the homosexuals’. In return, the Ugandan parliamentarians succeeded in attaining international notoriety for trying to clamp down on gay persons.

Fortunately, this bill may never go beyond where it is now, largely because of the pressure mounted by human rights advocates and the international community. From what the Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni has said, he may have succumbed to such pressure: “I have got so many calls from people about this homosexuality bill. Last time I received a call from the US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, telling me to drop this bill.”

It is possible that President Museveni, wishing to reduce such pressure, urged Speaker Rebecca Kadaga, who leans towards the ruling party, to shelve the bill for another time. This influence is very easy for a house largely controlled Museveni’s party, the National Resistance Movement (NRM). Museveni can do almost anything he wishes with this parliament. It is alleged he once paid each member in his party about $2,500 US dollars to have presidential term limits scrapped in order to gain a lifetime presidency after personally making telephone calls to each one on how to vote. This would suggest he can have anything his way, including a stay of the homosexuality bill.

Museveni is also not a fool to annoy the Americans at this time. There is so much at stake between Uganda and America now. Museveni needs to extend his more than 26 year long stay in power, and Uganda’s troops in Somalia need American support. What’s more, America is also supporting Uganda to capture rebel-leader Joseph Kony while cushioning the country against the threat of its powerful neighbour Sudan, under Omar Bashir.

The battle over Uganda’s anti-homosexuality bill

There are three divergent groups involved in the gay controversy in Uganda. The first are genuinely in favour of the bill, such as members of the Ugandan parliament and conservative religious leaders. Although, surprisingly, some institutions and persons known to promote social justice and human rights appear supportive of the anti-gay bill. With the general public sentiments tilted to their side, many Ugandan MPs and conservative Christian leaders see themselves as little heroes championing the excuse, which most Africans governments are using to clamp down on gay persons, that they are “preserving the great aesthetics of our African traditional values and culture that the West is bent on destroying.”

The second group constitutes the moderates. This includes the president of Uganda. They argue that gay practice or homosexuality did not start with Western civilisation. This group may accommodate gay practice, but on condition that LGBTI are not given limelight in society. This attitude may not help much, since it will not promote better programming for LGBTI within national institutional frameworks such as the health sector.

The third, and equally powerful group, are the pro-gay lobby groups who will have no compromise until the bill is discarded in totality. These are mainly NGOs, already blacklisted for closure by the Uganda government for their pro-human rights stands. Many who have funded some LGBTI activities are already threatened. Recently, I talked to a programme officer of a women’s group that used to support gay programmes and she confided to me that they were now reluctant to incorporate LGBTI activities in their plans for fear of closure.

There now seems to be no headway for the anti-homosexuality bill in the Ugandan parliament. As a liberal minded Ugandan lady, who preferred not to be named, describes: “The gay bill is in paralysis – it cannot move forward and cannot be withdrawn. Any step that may be taken either way needs a lot of caution, and that step has risks of causing immense uproar from sections of the community, within and without Uganda’s borders.”

Andrew Mwenda, a leading international and well respected Ugandan journalist, while talking on Uganda’s Capital Radio, argued that the gay issue is not being portrayed fairly. He said that, whereas anti-gay lobbyists accuse gay groups of recruiting children from Uganda primary schools into gay practice, no proof of such recruitment is evident, yet we have a situation in which a large number of underage girls are sexually active and being exploited by adult males. To him, this is more disastrous to Uganda and it a more plausible challenge than the purported ‘gay recruitment’ drives.

Could it be true that the anti-homosexuality bill may never live to see the dawn of a new day?