Uganda denies plan to revive its ‘Kill the Gays’ law amid global concern
- Ugandan official said last week that new bill would impose the death penalty on homosexuals
- But president’s spokesman said government has no plans to reintroduce legislation thar was nullified five years ago on a technicality
Uganda will not impose the death penalty for gay sex, a presidential spokesman said on Monday, after major aid donors said they were monitoring a plan by the African nation to reintroduce a bill colloquially known as “Kill the Gays”.
Uganda’s Ethics and Integrity Minister Simon Lokodo last Thursday said the government planned to reintroduce an anti-homosexuality bill in parliament within weeks to curb the spread of homosexuality in the east African nation.
Lokodo’s statement was widely reported across the world and international donors such as the European Union, World Bank, the United States and the Global Fund said they were monitoring the situation closely and stood by the rights of LGBT+ people.
A spokesperson for President Yoweri Museveni on Monday said the government has no plans to introduce the legislation, which would impose the death penalty for gay sex.
“There are no plans by the government to introduce a law like that,” Don Wanyama, President Museveni’s senior press secretary told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
