Anti-Homosexuality Bill in Uganda Parliament Business Committee

On Tuesday Uganda's Parliament voted to return unfinished bills from the eighth session to the current business session. This included the Anti-Homosexuality Bill of 2009. The bill is now in the hands of the Business Committee which will decide if and how it will be considered.

Parliamentary Live Blog from the Daily Monitor:

5:30pm: Tinkasimire says the anti-gays Bill is overdue because the spirit of his ancestors tells him that they lived without this practices, says he hears government saying when we pass the anti-gays Bill, we shall loose the donor’s money. We can’t afford to stay with such ills in our society and when it comes before the floor, we shall all pass it and support it.

• Speaker says all reports not discussed in the Eighth Parliament will also be brought through a motion and discussed, passed or amended.

The Committee Report on the Anti-Homosexuality Bill of 2009 that was not discussed by the Eight Session was released in May, 2011.

Warren Throckmorton called members of Uganda's Parliament to find out about where the bill stood in the current business session. The bill is now in the hands of the Business Committee which will decide if and how it will be considered.

This morning I spoke with Parliament Spokeswoman, Helen Kawesa, who told me that no date had been set for debate on the anti-gay measure. “The Business Committee will meet to decide what bills are considered. Then they will be listed on the daily Order Paper,” Kawesa explained. The Business Committee is chaired by Speaker of the House Rebecca Kadaga and made up of all other committee chairs. Currently, no date has been set for this committee to consider a schedule for the bills returned from the Eighth Parliament.

I also spoke briefly to Stephen Tashobya, chair of the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs committee. His committee prepared a report on the Anti-Homosexuality Bill in May and recommended passage with some minor changes. He had no comment on the status of the anti-gay bill since he has been traveling.

According to Kawesa, the Business committee could recommend that the anti-gay bill go back to committee or it could recommend that the former committee report become the basis for debate in the Parliament. Apparently, the return of the bill to the floor is not automatic. The Speaker has some ability to delay it or expedite it. The decision of the Business committee may signal how quickly the bill will move.