President Yoweri Museveni
President Museveni on Sunday let the cut out of the bag when he revealed to the entire nation that he has never enjoyed the lips of his gorgeous wife in Public.
The president made these remarks at the inauguration ceremony of the new archbishop of church of Uganda Stanley Ntagali at Namirembe Cathedral in Kampala.
“I have been married to Janet for the last 39 years but I have never kissed her in public or even in the house before the children. If I do it to her in public I will lose elections which I am not prepared for” the President said.
Mr Museveni revealed this while addressing the issue of whether people should expose their sexual behaviour of keep it private.
In a related development, President Museveni has said gay people should not be killed or persecuted, as the country’s MPs continue to consider a controversial Anti-Homosexuality Bill.
In his first public comments on the bill for some time, President Yoweri Museveni also said that homosexuality should not be promoted.
The original version of the bill stipulated the death penalty for some homosexual acts deemed as aggravated homosexuality but this has since been dropped.
Homosexual acts are already illegal in Uganda.
The government has always stressed that the bill was introduced by an individual MP and was not official policy.
In 2009, Ndorwa west Member of Parliament David Bahati tabled before Parliament the anti-homosexuality bill that seeks to further criminalize the act.
This move was met with harsh criticism from the international community especially western countries where the behaviour is legal with some nations threatening to cut aid to Uganda.
“If there are some homosexuals, we shall not kill or persecute them but there should be no promotion of homosexuality” The president said.
“We cannot accept promotion of homosexuality as if it is a good thing.”
Ministers have warned MPs that passing the bill would have implications for foreign relations.
It has been condemned by Western donors, who have suggested that aid could be cut if it is passed.
Speaker of parliament Rebecca Kadaga recently said the bill would be passed as a “Christmas gift” to its advocates.
However, parliament has adjourned until January without voting on it.
Even if MPs do approve the bill, Mr Museveni would have to sign it before it takes effect.
Some African opponents of homosexuality have said it was introduced to the continent by European colonisers.
However, Mr Museveni said he knew of traditional kings and chiefs who practised homosexuality, but that they did it in secret and did not promote it.
He said he had told the US ambassador to Kampala that all forms of sex were kept private in Africa, unlike in Western societies.
In its original form, those convicted of “aggravated homosexuality”, defined as when one of the participants is a minor, HIV-positive, disabled or a “serial offender”, faced the death penalty.
Such offences would now be punished with life imprisonment, it is understood.
The original bill also prohibited the “promotion” of gay rights and called for the punishment of anyone who “funds or sponsors homosexuality” or “abets homosexuality”.
Ugandans are deeply conservative, and homosexuality is against their religious and cultural beliefs.
