Opposition party Justice Forum (JEEMA) has attacked a section of political and religious leaders who are profiting from homosexuality programs funded by western donors.
While addressing the press at party headquarters in Mengo, JEEMA spokesperson Ssentongo Kyamundu lashed out at former presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi, aka Bobi Wine, the leader of the opposition National Unity Platform (NUP), for attacking parliament over the Anti-Homosexuality 2023 bill, describing it as “diversionary” and must be rejected.
Recently, while appearing on BBS TV online on Saturday morning, Bobi Wine criticized the bill, which was introduced in parliament by fellow opposition party leader MP Asuman Basalirwa of JEEMA, as a “trick” being played by President Yoweri Museveni to spark confrontation between his opponents in the opposition and their foreign partners.
Of late, the founder and senior pastor of Christianity Focus Center Church, Mengo Kisenyi, Bishop David Livingstone Kiganda, has urged the faithful to support the church financially or refrain from telling the church to take the lead in the fight against homosexuality. In a video that quickly became popular on social media, Kiganda advised those opposed to homosexuality to support the church rather than have it plead for donations from gays.
Ssentongo, who was speaking about Jeema’s party position, revealed that homosexuality is steadily becoming a cancer in Ugandan societies, which should be fought with one common goal. He called upon all Ugandans to shun all leaders who are against the anti-homosexuality bill currently before parliament, tabled by the Honorable Asuman Basalirwa, the President of our party.
“Members of the Ugandan public have been aware for quite some time that there are some people in their midst who have chosen the lifestyle of homosexuality over that of a normal man-woman life. The overwhelming majority of the Ugandan public regards this life as a biological, social, and moral anomaly that represents a danger to the family values that Ugandans greatly cherish. We have heard arguments to the effect that this is how some people were created and that we should try to tolerate them. We have therefore been willing to listen to pleas that these people should be attended to as psychosocial patients and to entertain the hope that with time the practice of homosexuality will go away altogether,” he said.
He added, “Events and happenings in the recent past have shown that this is not about to happen. Ugandans have woken up to the realization that there are groups of people that are deliberately promoting this lifestyle to our children in their homes and in schools. Reliable narratives have shown that these groups are doing this for pay and that they are getting more aggressive and organized by the day. We have also learned that these paid agents of homosexuality include leading members of the public and that they are attempting to use money to build strong networks within our society. It is this situation that has created a crisis to which the nation must respond.”
He stressed, “We continue to have in our focus the fight against all forms of evil, including sexual immorality, corruption in high public offices, arbitrary arrests of Ugandans, and other violations of human rights. We are committed to this struggle. But we must also respond directly to the threat to one of the core human values, and thus this fight against homosexuality. We want to state categorically that while we are willing to treat homosexuals and lesbians as patients, we do not agree that there is such a thing as the human right to promote vice.”
JEEMA appealed to all Ugandans and other stakeholders to rally behind our MPs to ensure that the anti-homosexuality bill becomes law. We are aware of multiple pressures and attempts to intimidate those who support the bill, but we must put the future of our country first. We must think about our aspirations as a country and the kind of future that we want our children to inherit. We urge members of the Ugandan public to impress upon their respective members of Parliament that it is their patriotic duty to ensure that this bill is passed. We recall that from a few years back. The Constitutional Court nullified a similar bill because of a lack of quorum at the time it was passed. We therefore urge members of Parliament not to absent themselves this time around.
He said, “As a political party, we are proud that our president is spearheading this initiative.” As we hinted at earlier, one of the principle values that we stand for is morality; the M in the acronym JEEMA stands for morality, and homosexuality is a moral travesty. We therefore congratulate our president for being true to the values of the party and for putting the future of Uganda first. We thank the parliament of Uganda and the individual members of parliament for the support they have given him so far. We request that you maintain this support until the bill is finally passed into law.”
