The gays wore heavy black pants, black t-shirts designed with the CHOGM 2007 logo and the dark shades; their dress code accessorised by belts and necklaces in the rainbow.
“What we want is a rainbow world,†said one gay, only identified as Jacky.
It turns out that the anti-gay coalition goes under the name The Rainbow Coalition.
I caught up with Dr. Martin Sempa to clarify the double use of the symbol.
Most interesting though was the verbal attack that erupted between the gays and the rest of the people in the Space. As the gays were bombarded by media and other paparazzi, some people took the opportunity to shout insults of ‘you are worse than cockroaches’ and ‘if your mother was gay, would you be here today’.
One elderly woman however tried to appeal to the gays to “re-consider their choices because you end up getting sick instead.â€
“We gave birth to you as beautiful girls and boys; we want you to give birth to others as well,†she said in the local language.
Dr. Martin Sempa, who is also a pastor, invited them to come to his church and “meet Jesus and people who were once gay but have now reformed and are married.â€
The gays retaliated by quoting the Bible, shouting that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.â€
“None of you here is holy,†shouted Victor Juliet Mukasa, chairperson of the Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG). Victor (right in picture) is a young woman who is popular in Uganda for having taken the government to court for persecuting homosexuals and lesbians through the provisions of the Penal Code.
The gays were however escorted out of the people’s space by security who asked them to find another forum for their ‘demonstration’.
The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda says they want the 53 member states of the Commonwealth to help them arrest and bring to justice 14 fugitives who are hiding in various countries, several of them Commonwealth members.
The Spokesperson for the tribunal, Roland Amoussouga named neighbouring Kenya as one of the countries where the genocide suspects are hiding. He also named Uganda, a long-time close ally of the Kigali government.
He named one notorious fugitive as Felicien Kabuga whom he said has been sighted a number of times in parts of Kenya, so far without any success in his arrest. Amoussouga said the tribunal had discovered through investigations that several other fugitives are hiding in Commonwealth countries, with no mechanism in place currently to get them arrested and repatriated.
Amoussouga refused to name more countries saying this could jeopardize the ongoing investigations. But he did list some of the most wanted suspects as Bizimana Augustine, Ndahimana Gregoire, Uwinkindi Jean Bosco, Mpiranya Protais, Kayishema Fulgence, and Ndimbati Aloys.
He said the regional crises in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi and other neighboring countries have all been caused partly by the genocide in Rwanda.
Referring to the genocide as the worst human tragedy they have gone through, Amoussouga appealed to the Commonwealth members to speak with one voice against any kind of impunity.
Amoussouga said that the out-going Secretary General of the commonwealth, Don Mckinnon visited Rwanda three months ago and agreed with the authorities there that the organization would help them with the process of getting suspects through the justice process.
Seventy-two suspects have so far been arrested since the tribunal got established in 1994 six of whom are already serving their sentences in Mali after successfully undergoing trials.
Rwanda has applied to join the Commonwealth and is expected to be confirmed a member at the end of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting this weekend.
Today, I spent close to two hours with a group of young Ugandan men and women who are openly gay at the People’s Space. Some people actually thought I was gay, not that I cared.
And as an open interactive area and a hive of activity it was the right place for these young people to be: they could speak openly.
And guess what, I realized that like me, they are just people, who love and want to have freedom. People who want to be accepted and not persecuted just because they are men who love men and women who love women.
I am not going to go into the law here but speak as a human being and try to put myself in their shoes. An openly gay beautiful young woman participant had me thinking. As I talked to her she told me about the challenges she and others face thanks to being openly gay.
She has been thrown out of public transport, she is shunned in the community where she lives, she cannot find a job, seeking medical treatment for HIV and AIDS is another challenge, and so the list goes on and on.
Now who would want to live such a life? I do not think that these people wake up one day and decide they want to be gay. That just does not cut it.
Gays and lesbians have always existed in Uganda but the moment they decided it was time for them to gain their stand in society, then all hell broke loose for them. Is that not just hypocrisy? And their problem is simply the fact that they talked about being homosexuals then that became a problem.
I cannot help but wonder, ‘Are our leaders not trying to find a scapegoat in gays and homosexuals instead of focusing on the issues that they have failed to solve in our societies?’ Poverty for example, maternal mortality, child mortality.
There is always a price to pay for visibility and right now, Uganda’s gay people are paying that price.
Good policies are usually developed by governments. But the challenge to meet is their effective implementation.
Most ordinary people know little about the policies that affect them which leaves them in a position where they can not give constructive criticism.
In order to improve policy understanding and implementation there is need to improve communication between the policy makers and the people their policies affect. Currently in Uganda policy communication is not very good, there is a gap and this gap must be addressed to improve governance.
Feedback systems need to be built to allow free and easy communication between the people and the policy makers. The people need to see how the policies are impacting on them at the grass roots level, and if they are failing, people should be able to hold the policy makers accountable. However this can only work well if effective communication systems are put in place that allow the easy flow of information between the policy makers and the people.
Transparent accountability systems also need to be developed to give people a proper avenue to hold the government accountable. This improves the confidence of people in their government and results in effective policy implementation and people participation in the matters that concern them.
Policies can also be developed better when people are consulted. Uganda has got a very good local government system and through it people can be consulted on different topical issues before policies are developed.
Through the local council one level (LC1) approach, each council is in charge of people in a given village, people can be educated about the policies and their views can be heard and used to develop policies. When people participate in developing a policy they view themselves as part of the decision making process so they respond better to the policies than when a few decision makers develop it for them. This will contribute to good governance which is key to development.
In order to make this work collaboration among the Commonwealth countries is needed. If we work together and watch over each others progress the desired position will be reached.
CHOGM presents a unique opportunity to bring together Leaders and Ministers from throughout the Commonwealth to discuss issues which are not just of importance to the Commonwealth, but which are of global significance. The Government of Uganda, who are hosting the event, have chosen the theme “Transformation of Commonwealth Societies to achieve Political, Economic and Human Developmentâ€. Under that wider theme, we will be discussing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Climate Change, Trade, and Education. These are all key issues, which we believe need to be tackled head on if the poorest countries of the Commonwealth are to develop. And we firmly believe that the Commonwealth itself has an important role to play in these issues. As a unique grouping of countries from across the globe, with a fundamental set of principles in common, we, the Commonwealth, cut across traditional regional and economic groupings and can move the debate forward and take action on such issues of critical importance.
Civil society has an important role to play too. The Commonwealth People’s Forum, is an excellent opportunity to raise the visibility of civil society. Focussing on the theme of “Realising People’s Potentialâ€, Ugandan and pan-Commonwealth organisations will discuss key issues such as democracy and development. Their views will then be presented to Heads of Government at CHOGM.
My best wishes for a successful Forum. I look forward to hearing the outcomes.
Today Syda Bbumba, Uganda’s Minister for Gender, Labour and Social Development officiated at the opening of the Commonwealth People’s Forum (CPF) Commonwealth Network workshop. She could not spend too long there because she had to attend other workshops, but what she said still raised my eyebrows.
The workshop theme of Realising Women’s Potential in Transforming Commonwealth Societies through Financing Gender Equity Work is underpinned by a debate on financing for gender equity and the implementation of international human rights treaties and conventions within Commonwealth countries.
These were the issues that Ms. Bbumba raised: “Women’s issues are allocated the least in budgets. We need to strengthen the implementation of the Beijing Platform of action, and identify and mobilise resources across all sectors to finance gender equity work,†she said.
Yet having said that she failed to speak of the minimal funding for gender equity work from governments such as Uganda.
However, interestingly she did refer to the fact that Tanzania is one country that has set the pace when it comes to financing gender equity work. I almost laughed out when she said that Uganda was following in its footsteps. “Just how is that?†I could not help but wonder, considering Uganda is a government that at onetime was at the forefront of financing women’s issues and today seems merely to give the issue lip service!
Ever wondered why so many women die in child birth each year and yet programmes to educate them on sexual reproductive health issues receive little or no funding? If there is a country that needs preaching to as far as financing gender equity work goes, then I think Uganda should be at the forefront.
There is no doubt that there is little commitment to financing gender equity work since most gender policies are defined by decision makers who are mostly men and so seem to have little commitment to financing work that will transform women’s lives.
As an experienced researcher he talks about enhancing citizen participation in governance, Normally the focus of effort is in encouraging participation in meetings and sessions, the assumption being that the more often the ordinary citizen takes part in decision making, the more likely it is that good governance will be the outcome.
But to what extent is this assumption valid?
What happens in practice?
Can citizens with their living to earn and other commitments to family really participate fully?
People cannot be compelled to participate, and Dr Golooba thinks it more practical to create avenues by which people can complain about services and express themselves without assuming they will participate in council and other meetings as a matter of course.
Journalists covering the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Peoples Forum (CPF) in Kampala yesterday faced-off with Ugandan security officials over media accreditation to the summit.
Trouble begun after officials of President Yoweri Museveni’s elite protection unit, the Presidential Guard Brigade (PGB), barred reporters who didn’t carry a “special†accreditation tag, from covering the opening gala.
It was in many ways a bizarre spectacle as it turned out that reporters were never informed that they needed additional accreditation, on top of the official media accreditation issued by the Commonwealth Secretariat. Worse still, the security officials took the decision to issue a second accreditation without informing the Secretariat.
It was a frustrating experience for many reporters, both local and international, especially those who have travelled thousands of miles to cover one of the biggest events on the Commonwealth calendar this year. I spoke to Mr Julius Mucunguzi, a communications officer in charge of media and broadcasting at the Commonwealth Secretariat, and while he expressed utter shock at the organizational hitch, he was very optimistic it wouldn’t affect the smooth running of the event.
But we cannot forget that this was the opening of the largest civil society event this year, a grouping of people better known for their love-hate relationship with politicians and the government.
And we also know that civil society has often been accused of hiding behind the media in promoting interests not favourable to the state. So were there any ulterior motives in issuing a second accreditation? Why was the Commonwealth Secretariat kept in the dark?
These are questions that need answers. It would be a sad commentary for Uganda as host, if such organizational hitches continue at the ensuing Commonwealth events.
The Commonwealth People’s Forum set off on Monday 19th 2007 with a number of workshops taking place concurrently in different halls of Hotel Africana, the venue for the Forum. Among the workshops was Civil Society Leaders Effecting Transformation which brought together Civil Society Leaders from most of the Commonwealth member states.
Otunba ‘Dele Ajayi-Smith, President of African Citizens Development Foundation based in Nigeria was one of the panelists. He emphasized that one of the major reasons why Africa has so many bad leaders is the irresponsible citizens who later become irresponsible leaders. He amazed participants when he said that leaders need to stick to their agenda since a television set can’t abandon its antenna and move elsewhere.
Stephen Bubb, Chief Executive of the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organizations (acevo) based in the United Kingdom said Leaders ought to effectively manage company resources, both human and money. He went on to stress also the importance of Networking for civil Society.
Disability is not inability; this was proved by a CEO who is visually impaired. He stated that one can be a good leader even when they are disabled. His appeal to all stake holders was that there is need to facilitate disabled leaders so as to make them as efficient as the rest.
The Principles of CEOs came as a brain teaser to many since most of what was aired by the participants was termed as goals or aims and not principles. However, after a general consensus, it was agreed that the principles include:
Honesty
Integrity
Transparency
Time consciousness
Accountability
The Civil Society Leaders pledged to do all it takes to effect transformation in the various Commonwealth member states. The media fraternity was called upon to work in close collaboration with Civil Society, since this would give the leaders a good platform for the achievement of their aims and objectives.
Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG). Victor (right in picture) is a young woman who is popular in Uganda for having taken the government to court for persecuting homosexuals and lesbians through the provisions of the Penal Code.
