Pornography traffickers face jail

Jan 29, 2009

INDIVIDUALS peddling pornography risk being sentenced to Prison for 10 years or to pay a fine of sh10m, once the Anti Pornography Bill 2009 is passed.

Josephine Maseruka
and Susan Ninsiima


INDIVIDUALS peddling pornography risk being sentenced to Prison for 10 years or to pay a fine of sh10m, once the Anti Pornography Bill 2009 is passed.

Ethics and Integrity minister Dr. James Nsaba Buturo said the Bill was ready and would soon be tabled in Parliament.
If the offender is a corporate body or a business, the directors or proprietors or both, will be liable to a fine not exceeding sh100m or imprisonment not exceeding 10 years or both.

“Pornography is a big business for both promoters and advocates of immorality, who do not care about the quality of human relationships in the family and nationally,” Buturo yesterday told journalists at the Media Centre.

He also said: “Pornography is a poison to the mind. It fuels sexual crimes like rape and defilement. It destroys marriages and turns values upside down. Some of the values have stood the test of time.”

Buturo said responsible Ugandans had expressed concern, which prompted the Cabinet to direct the ethics and integrity ministry and the Attorney General’s office to draft the Bill.

He said the Bill seeks to repeal and replace sections 166 of the penal Code Act with a new and comprehensive legislation, which is capable of controlling and suppressing obscene material.

Some sections of the Bill target to punish producers and participants in the production, traffickers, publishers or broadcasters of pornography. It also empowers the courts of law to order the forfeiture and destruction of all materials and objects used to commit the offence.

The Bill empowers the court to issue a search warrant for any premises or persons, seize the materials and arrest the culprits.

It states that once culprits are convicted, they have no appeal option.
Buturo said the Bill caters for Internet service providers, who permit the downloading or uploading of pornography.

The minister said: “When it comes to cabinet, I will insist on keeping the prison term in the Bill, rather than the cash fine, because the dealers can easily pay.”

The minister was challenged to explain why the ebimansulo (strip dances) were still being performed with the knowledge of law enforcement agencies.

Buturo said it was regrettable that enforcement officers were sympathisers of immoral acts.

He said a joint committee of officials from the ministries of gender, ethics and integrity, health and internal affairs would discuss the link between traditional healers and human sacrifice.

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