Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has refused to sign the country’s infamous “Sexual Offenses Bill” that Parliament approved in May, on grounds that it details offenses already covered by pre-existing laws. 

“President Museveni has rejected to assent to the Sexual Offenses Bill, saying many provisions are redundant and already provided for in other legislations,” the Daily Monitor reports. “Deputy Speaker of Parliament Anita Among made the communication to the House …”

The bill has been returned to the Parliamentary Committee on Legal Affairs for review “to address the redundancies.”

Although this is a positive development for LGBTQ Ugandans and activists, the East African country is embroiled in harsh queerphobic sentiment institutionally. And there still exists a culture that makes it unsafe to live in Uganda as a queer person.

The Washington Blade spoke with Ikechukwu Uzoma, staff attorney for RFK Human Rights, and Adrian Jjuuko, executive director of Human Rights Awareness and Promotion Forum (HRAPF), before Museveni’s announcement about the details of the Sexual Offenses Bill and how its enactment could reshape Uganda’s LGBTQ landscape.

What is the Sexual Offenses Bill?

The Sexual Offenses Bill, which MP Monicah Amoding originally introduced in 2015, “seeks to consolidate laws relating to sexual offenses and provide procedural and evidential requirements during trial of sexual offenses and proposes several measures to check among others, sexual harassment in schools by guardians or teachers.”

The bill would also criminalize same-sex relationships and sex work.

“The laws were passed … reiterating sections of legislation first enforced in the country by British colonial rule,” the Guardian reports. “They condemn same-sex couples who perform acts deemed against the ‘order of nature’ to 10 years’ imprisonment.”

OutRight Action International also notes “same-sex relations have been criminalized in Uganda since British colonial times in sections 145 on ‘unnatural offenses’ and 148 on ‘indecent practices’ of the Penal Code, with a maximum sentence of life in prison foreseen. Clause 11 of the Sexual Offenses Bill further confirms this existing criminalization.”

Parliament passed the bill in May of this year. Questions regarding its legitimacy rose among LGBTQ individuals and activists as Museveni won his sixth presidential term and new MPs were sworn in.

“[When the bill was enacted], that was a time when Parliament was coming to an end, before we went into elections and [installed] a new Parliament,” said Jjuuko. “So when the new Parliament was sworn in, there was a question around what the actual legal status of a bill was that had been passed by Parliament, but not signed by the president.” 

Although the proposed legislation went through an “in limbo” phase and was not fully bonafide, Jjuuko said Ugandans treated the legislation as if it were fully implemented. 

“In Uganda, the law matters, but it also doesn’t. In other words it doesn’t matter what the situation is. With what the law right now is, the persecution of LGBT people will remain,” said Jjuuko.

Jjuuko further mentioned that when politicians have legislative ideas, they campaign for them in Parliament discussions and media appearances, thereby signalling to the country’s population the seriousness of whatever ideas they propose. Additionally, the word “bill” in Luganda, the country’s local language, has the same translation as the word “law.” 

These campaigns, coupled with the lack of a clear distinction between a bill and law in Luganda, create a general culture where the country’s population will behave as if it were an instituted law, regardless of whether it has been signed or not.

In response to what this means for law enforcement officials and how they would treat LGBTQ citizens, Jjuuko said that police officers rely on a new form of LGBTQ persecution: Charging individuals with committing “negligent acts.”

“The police, who should know better, usually charge people with either an existing offense or some new offense,” said Jjuuko. “There’s now a new trend in Uganda [where police officers] charge someone with negligent acts of spreading disease infections, and this comes from provisions in the old penal code which is not even about COVID-19. It just [resurfaced when the pandemic began].” 

Jjuuko also said the police are aware that they’re unable to charge an individual with “carnal knowledge.” They hence resort to charges of participating in intimate acts that can spread disease infections. So, even though general conversations focus on minimizing the spread of COVID-19, the larger picture depicts a commercial campaign to curb LGBTQ rights in Uganda.

This has led to an increase in mass arrests of LGBTQ individuals, with 44 people being arrested as recently as June, and consequently being charged with breaching pandemic restrictions as they pertain to the sizes of public gatherings.

What’s next?

Now that Museveni has refused to assent the bill, it has been returned to Parliament for further review. It will be presented to him again for re-consideration. 

Jjuuko mentioned that if Museveni refuses to assent the bill once again, Parliament can enact it into a law by voting and taking advantage of what they call a “supermajority.”

In the event this happens Uzoma said, “it’s very easy, we [RFK Human Rights] just follow [Jjuuko’s] lead, and do whatever he tells us to do. [However], I think that [the bill being passed] really does change the matrix of decision making and planning.”

Uzoma further mentioned that whatever work RFK Human Rights is currently doing they will continue to do. If the bill is passed, it is inevitable that there will be more arrests and convictions. Therefore, the U.N.-style engagements that RFK Human Rights has had in the past around such detentions would continue.

Uzoma also said that the RFK Human Rights would also probably create a well-structured campaign that not only serves those in Uganda, but also covers the extraterritorial jurisdiction components detailed in the bill that would make it illegal for Ugandans to participate in same-sex relations outside of the country.

Jjuuko is certain his advocacy work will persist. 

“I know for sure that whatever happens, our work will go on. Nothing is going to stop us because I kind of feel like we’ve lived through worse,” said Jjuuko.

Jjuuko is aware of society’s progress with adopting more favorable views of the LGBTQ community and has emphasized that this has also influenced progress for Uganda.

“There’s positive continuous progress [and] they are fighting us because they know that we are winning and making progress. So, [the endless persecutions] are signs that [the government] also realizes something is wrong in their own strategy of making sure that there are no LGBTI people in Uganda,” said Jjuuko.