Does the above saying look familiar? Well this was the case for some of the guests that came to the people’s space at Hotel Africana. Prince Charles was touring the space and apparently for security reasons, those who came after the Prince’s entry were not allowed in.
This however did not go down well with some of the guests especially the ladies, who thought it did not make much sense. “Is the big man going to address chairs, why not let us in” said one lady.
Another lady wondered why people could not be let in even after thorough security checks. An Indian lady complained having come all the way from her country but couldn’t access the People’s space.
Trust people when they are fighting for their rights. After so much noise, the security guards had no alternative but to let the people in. With so much excitement, people rushed to see the Prince who was already winding up his tour.
Prince Charles is one of the many dignitaries that have visited the People’s space which was put in place for free access by the general public. As it comes to a close, people feel it’s been a worthwhile venture and they have high hopes that their issues will be considered.
There was a hullabaloo at the People’s Space early this afternoon when the gay community and the rest of the people confronted each other, when anti-gay activist Dr. Martin Sempa released a press statement protesting the recommendations of the Commonwealth People’s Forum to legalise homosexuality in all the Commonwealth countries, as released in the Communiqué.
The gays wore heavy black pants, black t-shirts designed with the CHOGM 2007 logo and the dark shades; their dress code accessorised by belts and necklaces in the rainbow.
“What we want is a rainbow world,” said one gay, only identified as Jacky.
It turns out that the anti-gay coalition goes under the name The Rainbow Coalition.
I caught up with Dr. Martin Sempa to clarify the double use of the symbol.
Most interesting though was the verbal attack that erupted between the gays and the rest of the people in the Space. As the gays were bombarded by media and other paparazzi, some people took the opportunity to shout insults of ‘you are worse than cockroaches’ and ‘if your mother was gay, would you be here today’.
One elderly woman however tried to appeal to the gays to “re-consider their choices because you end up getting sick instead.”
“We gave birth to you as beautiful girls and boys; we want you to give birth to others as well,” she said in the local language.
Dr. Martin Sempa, who is also a pastor, invited them to come to his church and “meet Jesus and people who were once gay but have now reformed and are married.”
The gays retaliated by quoting the Bible, shouting that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
“None of you here is holy,” shouted Victor Juliet Mukasa, chairperson of the Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG). Victor (right in picture) is a young woman who is popular in Uganda for having taken the government to court for persecuting homosexuals and lesbians through the provisions of the Penal Code.
The gays were however escorted out of the people’s space by security who asked them to find another forum for their ‘demonstration’.
By Emmanuel Gyezaho, Charles Odongtho and Naomi Kabarungi
Prince Charles has today launched a fund to help youths engage in income generating activities. He named the fund the Uganda Youth Business Fund.
Prince Charles launched the fund during his visit to the People’s Space at Hotel Africana in Kampala. He expressed delight at making his first trip to Uganda in 60 years.
The prince singled out emphasis on Climate change and empowerment of youth which he said the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) will address seriously. He added that in ten years, more than a billion children worldwide will be reaching employable age without employment.
He said the challenge of the modern day is to find employment for the youth’s and protect the environment on their behalf.
Charles explained that the Ugandan trust is replicated from the trust he launched thirty years ago in the United Kingdom to help get employment for young and underprivileged children. He said he was launching the Ugandan chapter after the success of the one in the UK seven years ago.
He said the Prince’s Trust in the United Kingdom has now expanded into 70,000 business enterprises in the UK and over twenty countries of the commonwealth.
He said, “We hold this planet in trust for the future of our children” adding that, “we can choose to abuse it or we can protect it so that our children can inherit a safe planet.”
The prince particularly noted that climate change is the greatest issue that the Commonwealth People’s Forum has given space to discuss.
Moving through the Space, Prince Charles was bombarded by lots of people seeking to shake his hand. Security, both royal and local, hardly managed to keep the masses at a hundred metres distance. British Council’s Anne Babinaga showed His Royal Highness round the People’s Space. He took time to stop over at most of the huts and even spared a few minutes to play the Lolui rocks at the Rock art, Rock Music tent.
The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda says they want the 53 member states of the Commonwealth to help them arrest and bring to justice 14 fugitives who are hiding in various countries, several of them Commonwealth members.
The Spokesperson for the tribunal, Roland Amoussouga named neighbouring Kenya as one of the countries where the genocide suspects are hiding. He also named Uganda, a long-time close ally of the Kigali government.
He named one notorious fugitive as Felicien Kabuga whom he said has been sighted a number of times in parts of Kenya, so far without any success in his arrest. Amoussouga said the tribunal had discovered through investigations that several other fugitives are hiding in Commonwealth countries, with no mechanism in place currently to get them arrested and repatriated.
Amoussouga refused to name more countries saying this could jeopardize the ongoing investigations. But he did list some of the most wanted suspects as Bizimana Augustine, Ndahimana Gregoire, Uwinkindi Jean Bosco, Mpiranya Protais, Kayishema Fulgence, and Ndimbati Aloys.
He said the regional crises in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi and other neighboring countries have all been caused partly by the genocide in Rwanda.
Referring to the genocide as the worst human tragedy they have gone through, Amoussouga appealed to the Commonwealth members to speak with one voice against any kind of impunity.
Amoussouga said that the out-going Secretary General of the commonwealth, Don Mckinnon visited Rwanda three months ago and agreed with the authorities there that the organization would help them with the process of getting suspects through the justice process.
Seventy-two suspects have so far been arrested since the tribunal got established in 1994 six of whom are already serving their sentences in Mali after successfully undergoing trials.
Rwanda has applied to join the Commonwealth and is expected to be confirmed a member at the end of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting this weekend.
Martin Davidson, current CEO, British Council dropped by the Media Space yesterday to see what’s been going on. One of the blog team, Naomi Karabungi managed to corner him and ask a few questions about British Council’s involvement in Africa and the event.
Today, I spent close to two hours with a group of young Ugandan men and women who are openly gay at the People’s Space. Some people actually thought I was gay, not that I cared.
And as an open interactive area and a hive of activity it was the right place for these young people to be: they could speak openly.
And guess what, I realized that like me, they are just people, who love and want to have freedom. People who want to be accepted and not persecuted just because they are men who love men and women who love women.
I am not going to go into the law here but speak as a human being and try to put myself in their shoes. An openly gay beautiful young woman participant had me thinking. As I talked to her she told me about the challenges she and others face thanks to being openly gay.
She has been thrown out of public transport, she is shunned in the community where she lives, she cannot find a job, seeking medical treatment for HIV and AIDS is another challenge, and so the list goes on and on.
Now who would want to live such a life? I do not think that these people wake up one day and decide they want to be gay. That just does not cut it.
Gays and lesbians have always existed in Uganda but the moment they decided it was time for them to gain their stand in society, then all hell broke loose for them. Is that not just hypocrisy? And their problem is simply the fact that they talked about being homosexuals then that became a problem.
I cannot help but wonder, ‘Are our leaders not trying to find a scapegoat in gays and homosexuals instead of focusing on the issues that they have failed to solve in our societies?’ Poverty for example, maternal mortality, child mortality.
There is always a price to pay for visibility and right now, Uganda’s gay people are paying that price.
Growing up in a remote village within the small mountain state of Himachal Pradesh north of India, Asha Kanwar considers education the basis of all development. Being the first generation of an illiterate family to go to school, Asha says education has been a life-changing experience for her.
Presenting a paper at the Joined Up Policies to Develop Commonwealth Education workshop on Tuesday, 20 November 2007 during the Commonwealth People’s Forum, Professor Asha Singh Kanwar stresses that there is no difference between education on the one hand and development on the other; to achieve any of the Millennium Development Goals education is the bottom line.
Asha has had the opportunity to go through higher education with scholarships and international fellowships; one of these was from British Council for a Doctor of Philosophy programme at the University of Sussex which she completed in 1986.
Today, Professor Kanwar is the Vice President and Programme Director of the Commonwealth Of Learning.
