President signs anti-homosexuality bill, at this time, State House Entebbe

President signs anti-homosexuality bill at  State House Entebbe

Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni has lived to his promise to sign the Anti-homosexuality bill into law.

The president put pen to paper on Monday afternoon at State House, Entebbe,  37 kilometres southwest of the Uganda capital, Kampala at an event that was witnessed by the media and telecast live on national TV.

The bill first tabled in Parliament in 2009, was passed on December 20 last year amidst controversy over its necessity and the fact that it was passed without quorum.

The bill originally proposed the death penalty for a category of offences called “aggravated homosexuality,” defined to include repeated sex among consenting adults as well as sex acts involving minors or a partner infected with HIV. But this clause was removed amidst international pressure.

The law sets life imprisonment as the maximum penalty and imposes a 14-year jail term for first-time homosexual offenders