Cabinet okays short skirts, bans obscene publications

NATIONAL - After approving a committee to monitor the use of pornography in the country, the Uganda Cabinet has released regulations that ministers believe would ease the implementation of the Anti-Pornography Act, 2014.

According to Maj. Gen. Jim Muhwezi, the minister of information and national guidance, the new guidelines bar obscene publications and staging of erotic and nude drama or dances in the country.

"The guidelines also prohibit broadcasting of sexually explicit material in form of still pictures, video footage and vulgar presenter utterances on our media air waves," Muhwezi told journalists during a press briefing at his office on Thursday.

Asked whether the government has no other business rather than handling pornography, Muhwezi said: "Controlling is not a priority but it is also important."

The minister said that Cabinet has since authorized the minister of ethics and integrity, Simon Lokodo, to issue a statutory instrument to gazette the new Anti-Pornography Regulations, 2015.

"Subsequently, the recently constituted Pornography Control Committee should look out for such materials, confiscate and destroy them," he said.

However, Muhwezi emphasized that the Anti-Pornography Act, 2014 does not in any way ban mini-skirts and short dresses, warning Ugandans to desist from attacking and undressing women wearing short dresses.

Recently, Lokodo tabled before Parliament a sh25b budget to buy a Pornography detection machine, which he said would help a great deal in monitoring pornography-usage in the country.