Minister Buturo's List of Sins, and Work Priorities

Someone has a sense of humour at the Monitor.

Ethics and Integrity Minister James Nsaba Buturo is a man with many wars to fight; prostitution, pornography, reality television shows and homosexuality. This week he unveiled a new weapon against prostitution; name the sellers – and buyers – in the media.

Addressing a press conference on Wednesday at the government media centre in Kampala, Dr Buturo said the new strategy to curb what he said were growing cases of prostitution, was a “weapon of shame”.

Dr Buturo did not produce figures to prove that prostitution, which is a crime under Ugandan law, is on the increase. The Ethics minister, however, appeared to have been provoked by the recent sacking of a civil servant whose official car was photographed on a city street with the occupant allegedly negotiating with a pregnant sex worker.

“We want to shame the public officials who even use government vehicles to buy prostitutes,” Dr Buturo warned. “We want to shame the husbands who go after these prostitutes and those running brothels. Their names will be published in print, television, Internet and other possible arena.”

It is not clear how the name-and-shame project will work but Dr Buturo said the government would involve the community and the Police to identify and shame the sex workers and their clients.

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It is not clear how the name-and-shame project will work but Dr Buturo said the government would involve the community and the Police to identify and shame the sex workers and their clients.
It is not the first time the minister has tried to end one of the world’s oldest professions. Early this year, he banned a conference organised for sex workers from East Africa, saying it was a “conspiracy to commit a criminal offence”.

A practicing born-again Christian, Dr Buturo may not exactly be a man of the cloth but he prefers his countrymen – and women – fully clothed. He has also proposed a ban against women wearing miniskirts while out in public. “What’s wrong with a miniskirt?” asked Dr Buturo dressed in tie and suit, “you can cause an accident because some of our people are weak mentally.”

Dr Buturo, who took over the Ethics Ministry in 2006 after a stint as information minister, also had time to take a pop at the gay community and Big Brother Africa, a reality TV show, among others.

He said homosexuality – not war, famine, poverty and disease as many would like “us” to believe – is threatening the stability and prosperity of Uganda. “It is a mental disease and I believe people can change,” Dr Buturo added.

Last year he said pro-gay rights organisations from the United Kingdom and the United States were sending him threatening mails due to his strong criticism of the practice which, too, is criminal under Ugandan law. He, at one point, advised gay Ugandans to emigrate.
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So is it all doom and gloom? Should Ugandans watch out for hailstones of fire and pillars of salt? Yes, according to Dr Buturo, or else Ugandans get “heart transplants” to fight these various forms of corruption.

“Peoples’ hearts need to change,” Dr Buturo said, adding to his list of vices in the country to include infidelity, embezzlement of public funds, witchcraft, defilement, abortion, walking naked on the streets, rumour-mongering and lust for power. With so much evil, his list of shame, might just be as long as the telephone directory.

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Help us Mr President. Give the Honourable Minister some work to do. Dont you think?