Hon. David Bahati is politically naive!

Politics has often been characterised as a dirty game; dirty because those in politics will often use uncouth means to reach their egoistic political ends. As the 2011 elections draw close, the majority of the country’s politicians have given up sleep in favour of scheming for a rebound into their elected positions. It doesn’t matter how they bounce back; they will tell you---if you ask them---that the end will justify the means!

One of those politicians seething with political anxiety is David Bahati, the Hon. MP for Ndorwa West. A first time legislator representing one of the most impoverished communities in Uganda, he has throughout his tenure struggled to make his voice heard on critical issues of nation-building and rural livelihoods transformation. Indeed, independent assessors have ranked him among the least performing MPs in the current parliament. For a first-time legislator without any political history---at least before his accession to parliament, this is perhaps not surprising! What is surprising is his machinations to get political recognition by sponsoring an utterly useless piece of legislation – the anti homosexuality bill!

Hon, Bahati hopes that the anti-homosexuality bill (whether successful or not) will help him claim political visibility a head of the 2011 elections! That’s playing dirty! If you asked his constituents, or even the general populace as to whether they think homosexuality is an issue, the answer would overwhelmingly be negative. Even to those who think it is a problem, they will most likely put it low in the rung of priorities.

Most Ugandans are concerned that: one in three Ugandans sleeps hungry every day; nearly 70% of the population in Northern and Eastern Uganda lack access to even the most basic necessities of life such as clean water; and 130 out of every 1,000 children die before their 5th birthday. The country’s maternal mortality ratio of 505 per 100,000 live births implies that 16 women die every day due to pregnancy-related factors – partly because only 38% of pregnant women have access to skilled birth attendants and professionals. Worst still, allocated government resources which would otherwise alleviate these problems are siphoned with impunity.

Homosexuality doesn’t cause any of the above priority concerns, therefore the anti-homosexuality bill is either irrelevant, or for Hon. Bahati’s comfort, untimely! Unfortunately for Hon. Bahati, President Museveni distanced himself from the bill while opening the National Resistance Movement conference in Entebbe on 12th January – citing the need to balance national principles with foreign policy interests. With a parliament which votes according to the whims of the President, it will be a miracle if the bill sails through!

Hon. Bahati failed to realize that his bill does not build political capital for the NRM and therefore will not be embraced by government. And because he is politically naive, he couldn’t predict the potential negative impact of the bill on Uganda’s foreign policy relations, and whether government would be willing to jeopardize these relations for the sake of an irrelevant piece of legislation.

If he thought the bill would strengthen his credentials for a ministerial portfolio – say Ethics, that’s now unlikely given the negative publicity the draft bill has generated among Uganda’s development partners abroad. Hon. Bahati’s appointment as a Minister would be a PR disaster for Uganda. At the local level, the bill is unlikely to help him consolidate his political capital because it’s irrelevant for Ndorwa West constituents. In fact, it is more likely to provide ammunition to his political foes who would argue that the MP lost touch with local development priorities during his tenure.

Hon. Bahati doesn’t have to be like the protagonists of Chinua Achebe’s two novels: Things Fall Apart and No Longer at Ease. The first is about the warrior Okonkwo, who hangs himself in despair after his clan’s men betray him by refusing to join him in the war against colonialists. The second is about Okwokwo’s own grandson Obi, who despite seeing himself as a pioneer for cultural adaptation and ethical values; he becomes a victim of circumstances and is eventually convicted of bribery in a court of law. Hon. Bahati can, and should do better next time!