Ugandan 'kill the gays' bill may be voted on in February

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By Paul Canning

Warren Throckmorton, one of the closest followers of Ugandan developments, reports that he has spoken to a Ugandan parliamentary offical and the 'kill the gays' bill may be voted on as early as February.

Stephen Tashobya, the chair of the Ugandan Parliament’s Legal and Affairs committee, told him "I can say it will come up after elections which is the 18th of February.”

"Ideally, what we are trying to do is to ensure that we clear all the bills that are before the committee before the end of this Parliament in May. I am not in a position to say we are going to handle it in this time framework, but we are trying to get out all of the bills by the end of May, including that one [the AHB]."

"What I can say is that there is special interest in that bill, both for and against and we are mindful of the interest in that bill. We are looking first of all in the context of the Parliament and the public interest, we are trying to see how we can handle it. We shall have public hearings, where all come and give their views and finally the committee report will take into account those views we are receiving from the public."

That committee report would then be presented to the Parliament as a whole and discussed prior to a second and third reading, which could all happen on the same day. It then goes to the President, who could send it back to Parliament if there were elements he did not like. But, says Tashobya, that would be “unusual”.

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