Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga has disagreed with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni over the anti-gay stance.
Mr Odinga made his stand known by saying that he disagrees with Museveni on his signing of the Antigay law and that he believes that sexual orientation is a choice and it should be respected. Mr Odinga made the comments during an interview on Tuesday night with Citizen TV.
The news was enthusiastically greeted by the gay community in Kenya with a leading gay activist Dennis Nzioka touting the news as a positive development on social media.
The Ugandan anti-gay bill cruised through parliament in December after its architects agreed to drop an extremely controversial death penalty clause, although the bill still says that repeat homosexuals should be jailed for life, outlaws the promotion of homosexuality and requires people to denounce gays.
Following the signing of the bill, Norway, Denmark and The Netherlands have become the first countries to either redirect aid away from the Ugandan Government or freeze aid. The Netherlands froze $9.6 million in aid to Uganda’s legal system, saying that if Uganda’s courts were to enforce the country’s new harsh laws further criminalizing homosexuality then they did not want to assist that process.
Denmark and Norway have also said they both planned to redirect around $8.5 million in aid, to a combined total of $17 million, away from the Ugandan Government – with that money instead going to Non-Government Organizations and human rights groups in Uganda.
In US, a petition has been launched asking the White House for a cutoff of U.S. aid to Uganda due to the new law. The petition has been posted on the White House website “We the People” page.
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