Veteran journalist Andrew Mwenda has spoken out on the Constitutional Court ruling on a petition challenging the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023.
Mwenda, one of the petitioners that had sought declarations nullifying the anti-gay law (considered one of the harshest in the world), says he and his colleagues had got “partial victory” from the judgement.
He revealed that he and fellow petitioners would challenge the Constitutional Court ruling in the Supreme Court, the highest in the land.
“We are now done with the constitutional court where we secured a small partial victory but a victory nonetheless,” he said after the five-judge bench delivered its ruling.
“The court struck down a few provisions of the AHA [Anti-Homosexuality Act] but left most of law intact. This is very disappointing and we are going to appeal to the Supreme Court!”
Mwenda was unhappy that the judges, led by Deputy Chief Justice Richard Buteera, had – in the veteran journalist’s view – relied on rumors as opposed to weighing the arguments against the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda, the highest law in the land.
He particularly argued that there was no evidence of recruitment of children into acts of homosexuality.
Mwenda further argued that the state should be interested more in the fight against assault against girl children and women than males since cases of the former act far outweigh those against the latter.
“I am disappointed by our justices for failing to stand above our cultural prejudice and bigotry and make history for Africa and for humanity. Instead, like the politicians, they relied on public sentiments and rumors, instead of the constitution, to make their judgment,” he noted.
“The judges claimed the AHA was made to stop recruitment of kids into homosexuality. The defense did not present any evidence of recruitment . Government has ISO, CMI, Crime Intelligence, CIID etc. Not one person has ever been arrested for recruitment by these agencies. Like the parliamentarians before them, our justices relied on such rumors to make a judgment.”
Read more about the Constitutional Court Ruling on the Anti-Homosexuality Act Here.
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