The Kimanya Kabonera County Member of Parliament (MP), Abed Bwanika, who is also a member of the National Unity Platform (NUP), has written to the party’s deputy president for the eastern region, who doubles as the opposition chief whip in parliament, John Baptist Nambeshe, to call a meeting and clearly state their party’s position when it comes to the issue of LGBTQ+.
In the petition, Bwanika petitioned the opposition chief whip to call for a meeting of a lawful organ to debate and pronounce the party position on LGBTQ+ to allay fears prevalent in the public realm that NUP either by association or omission, abates and promotes homosexuality.
He further demands that NUP clarifies the controversy created by NUP President Robert Kyagulanyi’s interview on the British Broadcasting Corporation in December 2023, which suggested that the Party is friendly and supports LGBT+Q, as opposed to the Uganda Anti-Homosexuality Act and Penal Code Act.
During the said interview, Kyagulanyi is also reported to have stated that all NUP Members of Parliament who voted in support of the anti-homosexuality act were working contrary to the National Unity Platform stand on LGBT+Q and that the majority had been compromised by President Museveni.
Among other issues, Bwanika also pointed out Kyagulanyi’s hobnobbing with the LGBTQ in the West, where he has been pictured attending meetings organized or sponsored by international LGBT+ Q activists and sponsors, including Rev. Jesses Jackson and US Secretary for Transport Pete Buttigieg, and the Rainbow PUSH Coalition Annual Conference in Chicago.
He concluded by praying that a meeting of a lawful organ of NUP be convened at the fastest convieniece to debate and pronounce an unequivocal position of the Party on LGBT+Q adding that the same should be publically stated to calm the hearts of many Ugandans, especially parents who are worried about their youthful children under NUP who may be molested or introduced to this vice which contradicts Uganda’s values and culture.
