Uganda’s enemy is not sex workers!

Apr 23, 2008

EDITOR—In her article, “Should criminal law punish prostitutes?”published on April 20, Associate Professor Lillian Tibatemwa writes that in 1990, seven years imprisonment was attached to prostitution in the Uganda Penal Code.

EDITOR—In her article, “Should criminal law punish prostitutes?”published on April 20, Associate Professor Lillian Tibatemwa writes that in 1990, seven years imprisonment was attached to prostitution in the Uganda Penal Code.

The length of sentence just shows how in this and many other issues, our legislators are out of touch with reality. Prostitution may be morally and socially repugnant, but does it warrant such severe punishment?

I won’t argue the merits and demerits of the classical moral debate between Prof H. L. A. Hart and Lord Devlin as to whether the law should concern itself with morality or punish its infringement.

I would simply say that it depends on whether the offence is so grave as to lead to the disintegration of society.

Prostitution may be a sexual offence, but it is not incest or rape. Prostitution goes against the moral code of the majority of Ugandans. But it is not on par with ‘subversive activities’ (whose range is wide), as Lord Devlin argues.

In fact, the moral repugnance of prostitution is often exaggerated. It has been in East Africa for a long time, as study of its early days in Mombasa shows and people have lived with it or ignored it and minded their own business.

If Uganda disintegrates, it is more likely to be due to corruption and ethnic rivalry over land and other resources, rather than prostitution.

A big moral problem that inflicts society in Uganda is not so much that prostitution is not immoral, but the high moralistic accent in our society seems to absolve those who daily swindle the public of exorbitant sums of money while they want to hunt down prostitutes!

It is like Jesus said: “They strain a gnat (a fly) and swallow a camel’. Morality and immorality are, therefore, narrowly defined. There are also practical problems to consider.

At present, Uganda has no prison space to keep terrible criminals, as the prisons are overcrowded. The situation can only be made worse if prostitutes are sent to prison, especially as some of them are single parents.

The Rev Amos Kasibante
Leicester, UK

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