President lay the wreath on the grave of St Janani Luwum at Wigweng during Janani Luwum day on Thursday at Wigweng in Mucwini Sub-county Kitgum district.
Kitgum – President Yoweri Museveni Kaguta has praised religious leaders in Uganda for rejecting homosexual practices in the country.
While speaking as the guest of honor during the 46th St Janani Luwum day at Wigweng in Mucwini Sub-county Kitgum district on Thursday (16/02), Museveni says despite pressure from the Church of England and western countries, the religious leaders especially the have maintained their stand to reject the practice.
“I want to congratulate you on rejecting this evil act, I told the European that homosexuals have been in Uganda before you came but it was a deviation from the teaching of the Bible which should not be entertained,” he says.
According to him, the religious leaders and believers in Uganda made a good stand to reject the vise which he said will spoil the future of the young people
He continues that the act of homosexuality is an evil act that should be entertained in a country like Uganda even if the European and other western countries are putting pressure on Uganda to also Okayed the practice here.
“These Europeans and the Americans are confusing, we have been told that this act of homosexuality is against our culture but they want to push us to accept it which we are not going to accept for the future of the country” he adds
Museveni declares that as the president he will not allow the West to impose its values on Uganda given the fact that Uganda is a sovereign country.
In 2014, President Yoweri Museveni has signed into law a bill that toughens penalties against gay people by defining some homosexual acts as crimes punishable by life in prison.
This was after it was first introduced in 2009, and originally included a death penalty clause for some homosexual acts before It was briefly shelved when Britain and other European nations threatened to withdraw aid to Uganda, which relies on millions of dollars from the international community.
The nation’s parliament passed the bill in December 2009, replacing the death penalty provision with a proposal of life in prison for “aggravated homosexuality.” This includes acts in which one person is infected with HIV, “serial offenders” and sex with minors, according to Amnesty International.
The bill also proposed years in prison for anyone who counsels or reaches out to gays and lesbians, a provision that would ensnare rights groups and others providing services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people
However, this time Museveni says even if Uganda is still a developing country, he cannot allow aid or assistance from those European countries at the expense of the innocent people of Uganda.
The president was responding to the request made by the Most Rev. Stephen Samuel Kazimba Mugalu, the Archbishop of the province of church of Uganda who requested that the bill introducing tougher punishment of homosexuality be reintroduced in parliament to prevent young people from being lured into the act.
He says there have been reports of increasing cases of homosexuality in Uganda of recent involving young people; he says the church, they are not going to allow the act to continue in a God-fearing country like Uganda and also to spoil the name of a powerful man in the name Janani Luwum.
President Museveni also used the occasion to inform the thousands of congregation who thronged at Wigweng to celebrate St Janani Luwum day, the government’s commitment to developing the site (Wigweng) as the pilgrimage and tourist attraction site which will earn money for the government.
“This place will be worked on as soon as possible as it is in the government plan to the level of Namugongo Martyrs’ shrine in Kampala which will attract people from a different side and beyond to see,” he said
St Janani Luwum Day is observed every February 16th in Uganda to recognize the pivotal contributions of the late Janani Luwum, former Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and Boga-Zaire (Eastern Congo) who was brutally murdered in 1977 on the order of the then president Idi Amin Dada.
