Last edited: November 07, 2003


Mazrui Attacks Museveni Over Homo Arrests

Africa News, October 6, 1999 (excerpt)
The Monitor (Kampala)

By Julius Mucunguzi

Kampala — Reknowned African scholar Professor Ali Mazrui yesterday stunned his audience when he opposed the view held by Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni that homosexuals should be arrested and prosecuted.

"The issues of homosexuality are self regarding acts.... they may be matters for the church, but not for the head of state... the almighty may judge, but not the state," Mazrui begun.

Mazrui said this while giving a key note address at an International Conference on Constitutionalism in Africa organised by the Faculty of Law Makerere University held at the International Conference Centre.

"The governments of Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe attacking homosexuals sound as though they are more concerned with homosexuality than corruption," the grey haired political science scholar said.

President Museveni Sept. 27 while addressing a Reproductive Health Conference at the ICC ordered police to arrest and prosecute culprits of an alleged homosexual wedding in Wandegeya mid last month. Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe has also been at the forefront of attacking homosexuals.

"That shouldn’t be a matter for the president to make pronouncements on. ... homosexuals and gays shouldn’t be used as scapegoats. Intrusion in the private lives of individuals is unconstitutional," Mazrui added.

"We can support the values of the African family without using homosexuals as scapegoats."

Asked whether he thought that president Yoweri Museveni could have made the homosexual remarks to divert attention on the agenda setting and matters for public debate, Mazrui replied that: "I was also comparing in my mind the situation of American president Bill Clinton who had a sexual scandal, but tried to divert it with a war, and president Museveni who has war scandal (in the Democratic Republic of Congo ( DRC), and is trying to divert it with homosexuality. I don’t know."

The topic of Mazrui’s address was: Constitutional Change and Cultural Engineering: Africa’s Search for New Directions. . . .

[The article continues on other topics.]


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