Freedom in Speech

Written by Maina Muchemi Friday, 22 June 2012 08:22

Uganda is reportedly set to dissolve 38 non-governmental organisations in the African state who it believes are promoting homosexuality and ‘recruiting’ people into a gay lifestyle.

Simon Lokodo, an Ethics Minister, told news agency Reuters foreign support was being sent to NGOs in Uganda to support gays in the country, who currently face life imprisonment if convicted of homosexual acts.

The former Catholic priest believed gays and lesbians were “recruiting” children to homosexuality, the agency said.

He said: “The NGOs are channels through which monies are channelled to (homosexuals) to recruit.”

The minister claimed to have a “record of meetings that they have held to empower, enhance and recruit” people into homosexuality.

Mohammad Ndifuna, the director of Human Rights Network Uganda, who face a ban under the announcement, told Reuters: “We know that they have been all kinds of threats coming towards the (NGO) sector for different reasons.”

In February, Mr Lokodo instigated a police raid of a gay rights meeting in Entebbe, an act Amnesty International’s Secretary General Salil Shetty said was an “outrageous attempt to prevent lawful and peaceful activities of human rights defenders”.

A meeting organised by the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project to train local activists in Kampala how to report human rights abuses was broken up this week.