Arcadia Foundation

According to the AFP, members of a Ugandan parliamentary panel stated on Friday that, while backing for Uganda’s controversial Anti-Homosexuality Bill of 2009 still exists, support has wained and focus has turned elsewhere to matters of economic and electoral reform. Also indicated was the fact that no date has been set for when the bill should go before Uganda’s lawmakers for a formal vote, and nor will it be in the near future.

A Ugandan parliamentary panel added that there is little backing for the country’s widely-condemned anti-gay bill and no timetable had been set for its debate.

“I think it is useless and will not achieve what it intends to achieve,” said Alex Ndeezi, a member of the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee tasked with reviewing the bill before it can be presented to the house.

The panel’s chairman Stephen Tashyoba said the draft law was not a priority.

“As far as I am concerned, we really have more urgent matters to discuss like electoral reforms, which are already behind schedule,” he said.

Homosexuality is already illegal in Uganda and offenders can be jailed for life.

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