Barely a week after dispersing a meeting of 30 homosexuals and sympathisers who had gathered at Resort Beach Hotel in Entebbe, the Ugandan Minister of Ethics and Integrity is at it again. This time, he has vowed to ‘crush the homosexuals’ and make their lives miserable in Uganda.
The minister, Reverend Father Simon Lokodo [pictured], reiterated an earlier stance that he will not allow homosexuals to meet in public places.
“We have established intelligence networks to monitor the activities of these people [homosexuals] and we shall make sure that they do not meet in public places. We are also going to blacklist all hotels and public places which host these people and their activities.”
The minister has stated that homosexuals can only be allowed to meet in their houses and their bedrooms in their own privacy but not in public places.
He added: “We shall isolate and apprehend all persons involved in homosexual activities and make sure that we put in place a mechanism that prevents the occurrence of these activities.”
Amnesty International Secretary General Salil Shetty criticised the move by the Reverend Lokodo, describing it as “unlawful and undemocratic” and “an outrageous attempt to prevent lawful and peaceful activities of persons freely associating in Uganda”.
Increasingly, Uganda is returning to the human rights spotlight after the recent re-tabling of the homosexuality bill, which still has a clause that may recommend death penalty for anybody found practicing or associating with homosexuals.
The stance on public meetings, which is largely seen as infringing the rights of gay persons to freely associate, means LGBT and human rights campaigners are likely to find it increasingly hard to organise a campaign against the proposed bill.