The second African Inter-Parliamentary Conference on family, values, and Sovereignty has kicked off from the shores of Lake Victoria in Entebbe.
The conference, widely viewed as an avenue for African legislators to chart ways of fighting against homosexuality is also expected to continue the fight against some of the influence of the European Union through the ACP-EU treaty, which some countries in Africa have been reluctant to sign.
The theme of the conference this year is “Reaffirming our family and cultural values. The organizers say the conference this year is to tackle the pervasive form of cultural colonization, which they say, is accelerating at the international, regional, and sub-regional levels and local communities.
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The Speaker of Parliament, Annet Anita Among should have opened the conference but she delegated the Minister for general duties at the Office of Prime Minister, Justine Kasule Lumumba to resent her.
Anita Among in a speech said Uganda has been very deliberate on protecting African families, values, and cultures.
She said the advancement of technology has become what she called a necessary evil. She urged that legislators must be steadfast in dealing with depressing effects like cyberbullying.
The speaker then suggested that the government should fully implement the amended Computer Misuse Act. The Act was amended in 2022.
“We have allowed technology to run our families. We no longer sit and tell folk stories to our children. We sit in our living room, including children on their phones,” she said.
She said that to emphasize Uganda’s commitment to protecting family and values, the parliament upheld its values and passed the Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2023.
“Even when the rest of the world was against us. This is because we are a Godly nation that respects the sanctity of marriage ordained between a man and woman for the intended purpose of procreation and companionship,” reads Among’s speech.
Anita Among has just been sanctioned by the UK government over alleged stealing or diverting iron sheets meant for poor people in Karamoja to herself.
Former Ministers Agnes Nandutu and Goretti were also sanctioned meaning that they cannot travel to the UK and that if they have assets in that country, they can not access them.
So, Anita Among told the conference that they have witnessed Western countries impose sanctions including threatening and withdrawing funding from countries that resisted their cultural colonization. And Uganda has been a victim of such.
“These Europeans should not take advantage of our poverty to exploit and colonise us again. We should not take their sugar-coated grants. If they threaten our independence and erode our cultural norms,” said Among.
The conference is being attended by legislators from some countries in Africa including Ghana, Botswana Eswatini, Malawi, and Uganda.
Among the Uganda MPS who spoke at the conference is David Bahati who also chairs the Uganda Parliament’s prayer breakfast.
David Bahati Speaks Out
Lawmaker and Minister, David Bahati is one of the Ugandan MPS attending the conference. Bahati, who doubles as the chair of the Uganda Parliament Prayer Breakfast committee, is not new to the fight against homosexuality.
He initiated the first private Member’s Bill against homosexuality in the early 2000s. He told the conference that poverty is one of the biggest threats to family values.
Bahat went to the conference dressed in a suit but without a necktie. He said he decided not to wear a necktie because he was protesting the UK sanctions against Anita Among, Gorreti Kitutu, and Agnes Nandutu.
The statement from the UK did not however say anything about the anti-homosexuality concerning the sanction against Anita Among, Kitutu and Nandutu.
Bahati said he faced threats and travel restrictions when he brought the first Bill. He said Africa must push for industrialization if it is to fight recolonization.
“Because when we industrialize our country. We gain support and superiority that we need to fight the forces that are fighting our family values,” he said. There were murmurs and laughter in the conference room when Bahati said that some Christians were receiving funds from some of the supporters of homosexuality in the West.
“The Bishop is here. When I was moving the Bill for the anti-homosexuality Act for the first time, I had a good friend of mine who was a pastor. And he came to me and said David I support what you are doing but the Bible says you should be wise. I will be praying for you but I will not speak openly. Because I’m receiving some funds or support from the USA,” he revealed.
Like last year, Henk Jan van Schothorst the founder and Executive Director of Christian Council International was one of the speakers in Entebbe. Some reports have indicated that Christian Council International has been the sponsor of the conference chaired by former Minister, Sarah Opendi and the Africa Bar Association.
Henk Jan van Schothorst told the conference that Norway or the Netherlands is at the forefront of exporting all kinds of policies that ruin African values.
“Because of its progressive stance, all the sexual rights organizations. Many of them come from The Hague,” he said.
Christian Council International lists Uganda and Malawi on its website as its special allies which have taken a strong stand against anything that is a threat to African values regarding the family, culture, and religion.
“This had a lot of fruits for CCI in the first quarter of 2023, as Henk Jan worked hand-in-hand with very vocal pro-life and pro-family Malawian Members of Parliament to the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly (ACP-EU JPA), the Parliamentary body of this still to-be-signed EU-ACP Treaty,” it reported.
*Source – URN*