[I wrote this yesterday. Today, Sunday, it is a very beautiful sunny morning. Though, as I speak, there is a hint of water in the air. Soon, it might rain. Just wanted to share this with you out there!
Its raining.
A warm, slow rain.
Was raining when I woke up. My lovers warm body was too tempting. Too tempting by half. So, set off almost late for the morning. It was a drizzle then, but once out, I could see the dark thunderclouds to the east and I knew it was going to rain. Just prayed I would be able to get to work before the heavens opened up.
And they have, when I was already at work.
Rain over Kampala.
The sun is a favorite season, with the heat, and the brightness, and the sheer sense of light all around. But the rain is also a favorite season. True, the roads become ribbons of red mud, and we have to pick and choose where we step. The light is lost, and the overcast is usually heavy. But, usually, it does not last that much, which is a fantastic thing. Yet, when it is raining, the gentle drops on the roads, the splash of water as the vehicles go by, everything. It is a beautiful season.
--
Poetry, to me, is a wish, a desire, an itch
To take the world around me
Put it in words-
Not immortal, not transcendental,
Just words
That will lift from the spirit of the moment
Wrap in words to communicate;
Take muse's guidance
And make it sparkle and spin in words.
Take the day, today-
Grey skies, pregnant and heavy, releasing rain;
The mist of the morning,drizzle that will not let up,
Making so many of us, Kampalans
Uncomfortable with the, unusual wetness;
It is a bane And a boon-
Muse's stirred, and listens
To the movement of the earth,
The faint stirring of the waters, though it be far off.
There's something in the air that I would put in words Something in the skies, the dark clouds, the heavy mist
The traffic on the roads, the splash of rain on the streets;
The squish and squelch of water underfoot-
Common, common things
But nothing is more uncommon
Than me being here, listening to it, with the heart, the mind open.
Even my soul listens
To the mood of the moment-
Sombre ecstasy, the power of living, that of breathing-
There's something in the rain
And the skies, and the mood-
The heavy cars, rushing people
There's something beneath, that has muse stirring.
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.
---
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. ---
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.
--
Help us Mr President. Give the Honourable Minister some work to do. Dont you think?
INTERNATIONAL GAY AND LESBIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION
Uganda: Action Alert-Demand An End To Official Harassment of LGBT Activists
SUMMARY
In what appears to be an all-out effort to silence the sexual rights movement in Uganda, police have again arrested high profile members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community, this time two male-to-female transgender gay men - Georgina (aka) Oundo George and Brenda (aka Kiiza). According to Sexual Minorities of Uganda (SMUG), two men who identified themselves as police officers, but were not in the customary Ugandan Police uniform arrested both men at the home of Georgina on Wednesday September 10, 2008.
Georgina and Brenda were held at Nabweru Police Post for a full week without access to lawyers or to bail. They were never brought before a judge, even though Article 3.9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) states that, "anyone arrested or detained on a criminal charge shall be brought promptly before a judge." Article 23 of the Ugandan Constitution requires that an arrested person must appear before a judge within 48 hours of arrest.
Brenda and Georgina report being beaten, kicked and hit with batons around the legs and ankles during their detention as interrogators demanded that they provide information about the names and addresses of other LGBT activists. Brenda and Georgina were finally released on September 17, 2008, but have been required to report regularly to the police station. They have been accused of "spreading homosexuality," though no such crime exists under Ugandan law. "Carnal knowledge against the order of nature" is punishable by up to life imprisonment in Uganda.
Among the rights violated in this most recent incident are:
* The right to liberty and security of person; freedom from arbitrary arrest or detention
* The right to freedom from torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment
* The right to freedom of expression
ACTION
IGLHRC requests that its members send appeals to Ugandan authorities as quickly as possible:
* Demanding an end to the harassment of Oundo George and Kiiza through the requirement that they report to the police on a regular basis.
* Calling on the Ugandan government to immediately end illegal arrests and detention of LGBT individuals and human rights defenders.
* Asking for a repeal of Section 145 of the Penal Code Act of 1950, which ostensibly criminalizes homosexual acts.
Please feel free to cut and paste from our letter (below) and send faxes and e-mails to the following officials:
President
Yoweri Museveni
Parliament Building
PO Box 7168
Kampala, Uganda
Fax: + 256 414 346 102
Email: info@gouexecutive.net
Salutation: Your Excellency
Inspector General of Police
Major Kale Kayihura
Police Headquarters
PO Box 7055
Kampala, Uganda
Fax: + 256 414 255 630
Salutation: Dear Major
Minister of Justice
Hon. Makubuya Kiddu
Parliament Building
PO Box 7183
Kampala,
Uganda
Fax: + 256 414 234 453
Email: info@justice.go.ug
Salutation: Dear Minister
COPIES TO:
Chairperson of the Uganda Human Rights Commission
Margret Sekagya
P.O .Box 4929, Kampala,
Uganda
Fax: +256 414 255 261
E-mail: uhrc@uhrc.ug
Salutation: Dear Chairperson
COPIES TO: diplomatic representatives of Uganda accredited to your country.
PLEASE SEND COPIES OF ALL APPEALS TO IGLHRC SO THAT WE CAN TRACK THE RESPONSE:
E-mail: aro.africa@iglhrc.org
Fax: +27.21.462.3024, fax
SAMPLE LETTER
Your Excellency President Museveni,
I am writing to you to express my concern about the unwarranted arrest and arbitrary detention of two lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) human rights defenders in Uganda on September 10, 2008. George Oundo and Kizza Brenda were held in detention for eight days without going before a judge. Article 23 of the Constitution of Uganda makes it unconstitutional to hold a suspect for over 48 hours. Furthermore, it is my understanding that these two individuals were arrested and detained solely as a result of their sexual orientation and gender identity
The continuous violation of the basic human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people perpetuated by the Ugandan government is of great concern. I understand that Uganda is party to various regional and international human rights covenants such as the African Charter on Human and People's Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, both of which condemn arrests based on arbitrary categories such as race, ethnicity, political belief and sexual orientation, among others.
I would ask that your government ceases and desists from harassing and arresting LGBT people simply because of their sexual orientation and gender identity and end the harassment and intimidation of LGBT human rights defenders. I would also urge you to consider the repeal of Section 145 of the Penal Code Act of 1950, which criminalizes homosexual acts. Such laws have been declared a violation of the rights to privacy and equality by the United Nations and have caused great pain to many of your citizens.
Sincerely,
Paula Ettelbrick
Executive Director
International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission
Cc: Major Kale Kayihura, Hon. Makubuya Kiddu, Margret Sekagya
BACKGROUND
In the past five years, there have been nearly a dozen arrests of LGBT people on charges related to homosexuality in Uganda. Authorities have harassed LGBT human rights defenders in their homes and in public and fined a private radio station that broadcast a program on HIV prevention among men who have sex with men. In July 2005, Uganda's Parliament passed an amendment to the constitution making Uganda only the second country in the world to use its supreme law to outlaw marriage between people of the same sex. In 2007, a coalition of religious leaders marched through the streets of Kampala demanding the arrests of LGBT people with one cleric even calling for the "starving to death" of homosexuals. Buttressed by the official homophobia of the state, the Ugandan media has published lists of gay men and lesbians, leading to physical violence, loss of employment and the curtailing of educational opportunities for those LGBT people who were named.
On June 4, 2008, Usaam Mukwaaya, Pepe Julian Onziema and Valentine Kalende, were arrested and charged with criminal trespass while peacefully attending the HIV/AIDS Implementers Meeting in Kampala. The arrest of the activists was condemned by local and international organizations, including UNAIDS, as well as by the U.S. government. Usaam Mukwaaya was rearrested on July 25, 2008 on his way from Friday prayers and was detained and tortured for several days.
IGLHRC is deeply concerned that this increasingly clear pattern of abuse - arrest, mistreatment in detention, and then release - is a systematic attempt to silence the Ugandan LGBT, feminist and human rights communities through constant harassment. There have also been reliable reports that authorities have a list of LGBT leaders including addresses, photographs and other personal information. Some activists have fled into neighboring countries to escape arrest.
A few years ago, a patient told me he was homosexual. He was also HIV-positive, and it was a challenge to counsel him. I realised I did not know about HIV prevention among gay men. I researched and was surprised to learn that homosexuals are one of the most vulnerable groups in Uganda that have not been targeted for HIV-prevention.
There are many reasons to explain this, among them culture and religion. The most accurate reason is that Ugandans know little about sexuality and homosexuality in particular.
I have been answering questions for The New Vision “Ask the Doctor” column for several years. Recently, I received a question from a reader asking for a quick answer. I read:
“Dear Dr., I am 24 years old, but the problem is that I have been gay since my childhood. I have been having those feelings which is stressing me a lot. Sometimes I think of killing myself because of what I am. I have tried my level best to overcome it in vain; fasting, praying day and night. I really hate myself. Dr. is there any medicine which can really help me from that big problem?”
I told my editor that it was useless to answer the question because it would not be published. That was from experience. The editor agreed, although reluctantly. I was thus surprised to find a whole teen section devoted to homosexuality in The New Vision of September 6. However, this ground-breaking publication was unfortunate. The articles were written by teenagers who gave their opinions, which coincide with those of society. Yet they are erroneous opinions. Nonetheless, the opinions were still published, with a few quotes from counsellors.
The counsellors were presumably experts. But their opinions about homosexuality are not only unscientific and un-researched but they have been disproved by scientific research. To them, homosexuality is a result of environment, due to sexual abuse as children, peer pressure, and erosion of family values, it is introduced and becomes a habit, one can be helped by counselling, it is an addiction, and homosexuals will not be able to become fathers and mothers. I do not need to search far to disprove these myths. What would these counsellors tell the 24 year-old reader from Ntinda who asked me the above question?
Freud and Jung were important historical psychoanalysts who lived in the 18th Century. Surely, their theories of sexuality cannot be relevant in the 21st Century. From the scientific point of view, same sex attraction is a natural phenomenon. It exists in the animal kingdom. Early in medical history, homosexuality was considered a disease. But as far back as 1973, psychiatric associations started removing it from classifications of disease. In 1994, the World Health Organisation removed it from the International Classification of Disease (ICD-10). Accordingly, ‘conversion therapy’ (homosexual treatment) is condemned by most reputed psychiatric organisations. It is harmful.
The reader from Ntinda would not be helped to understand why the Ugandan society thinks homosexuality is bad. He is a homosexual and contemplates suicide because he believes he is bad. He has sought help and is almost giving up. Should I condemn him? My culture, religion and society condemn him.
Same sex orientation is a risk factor for suicide. It is sad that in condemning homosexuality, we use ignorance. Our cultural, social and religious sensibilities are understandable. But why condemn young people to suicide through ignorance? They cannot help themselves. They are what they are. We can do better than condemn fellow Ugandans.
The New Vision of August 18, quoted President Yoweri Museveni to have saluted the Archbishop of Uganda, the Rev. Henry Luke Orombi, and other African religious leaders for resisting homosexuality, a decadent culture being passed on by the Western nations.
We have always been asked why we concern ourselves with homosexual issues or same-sex marriages when they do not affect us. Why not just live and let live? Some people ask We oppose legalisation of same-sex marriages or the promotion of homosexuality because, as examples from around the world show, homosexual activists are not content to just ‘live and let live.’
They are seeking to make it illegal for anyone to teach that homosexuality is not natural or that it is not good for anyone’s health since studies show medical risks associated with homosexual lifestyle. Neither do they want anybody to teach that it is morally wrong.
Homosexual activists are seeking to force churches to stop teaching their longstanding beliefs regarding homosexuality. They are trying to make it illegal or to be considered unethical for therapists to treat unwanted same-sex attraction because everytime someone is successfully treated, it destroys their claim that homosexual behaviour is genetic and inevitable. Worse still, they want to recruit our children though sex education programs.
In essence, they want to mainstream homosexuality throughout the world through laws, polices, harassment and intimidation. They want to prevent anyone saying anything negative about their sexual activities.
We must fight because the future of our families, our faith and many of our freedoms are at stake.
What happens in one country can affect many other countries as legal precedence is established and homosexual activists become emboldened in their demands.
We cannot sit on the sidelines; we must all engage in this battle now.
All Ugandans and Africans should join the President and religious leaders in this cause and support the various initiatives to preserve and protect marriage and religious freedom and to stop the homosexual agenda from changing our continent.
The writer is a pro-family advocate based in Kampala
DR. Martin Ssempa, a pastor at Makerere Community Church, has received an award for his fight against homosexuality.
Ssempa and his wife Tracey received the plague from Apostle Alex Mitala, the overseer of the National Fellowship of Born Again Churches in Uganda.
This was during the “Great Marriage Celebration” organised by the National Association of Marriage Enhancement in conjunction with the National Fellowship of Born Again Pentecostal Churches in Uganda at Nakivubo Stadium over the weekend.
Mitala led hundreds of couples who converged at the stadium from various parts of the country into a prayer for Ssempa to continue being the torch-bearer in the fight against the vice in Uganda.
“You are not fighting alone. We are with you,” Mitala said.
He said homosexuality was one way of making the world extinct.
“When men marry each other and women marry women, clans and tribes become extinct,” Mitala noted.
Bishop Michael Mugerwa, the organiser of the celebrations, urged couples to continue the fight against homosexuality, saying marriage was made for man and woman.
Ssempa thanked the Christians for standing by him and said he was encouraged by their support to continue with his campaign.
He proposed the establishment of a national marriage alliance to counter homosexuality.
Ssempa said the alliance would also discuss problems concerning marriage in Uganda.
Dr. Joseph Serwadda, the patron of Churches in Communities, asked the Government to consider declaring a national day for married people.
Pr. Robert Kayanja of Lubaga Miracle Centre Cathedral urged husbands to listen to their wives, saying that God can use them to bring blessings in their families.
