During the Tuesday 6, September Parliamentary seat, the speaker of parliament has stopped the Nyegenye festival which is to start few days to come.
The ‘Nyege Nyege’ festival is an annual social event and this year is scheduled to take place next week 15th to 18th September 2022 at Itanda Falls in Jinja.
The Tororo Woman MP Hon Sarah Opendi tabled the proposal that termed the festival as a breeding ground for sexual immorality such as open sex, indecency and promoters of LGBTI activities.
“In the last Nyege Nyege, we all saw what happened; people having sex in the open, drinking themselves silly and people have been told this event will go on both day and night,” Opendi said.
She said Nyege Nyege has promoted acts of lesbianism and gayism through international adverts.
“It is going to attract all kinds of people from the world who are going to bring non-African acts…While it is ok to enjoy, we have another bigger challenge, we are having our young children being recruited into LGBTI community,” Opendi said.
“I come from Busoga. I have witnessed this festival it’s totally immoral. We can’t sacrifice the morals of Ugandans because the tickets have been sold. If the minister wants it let him take it to his district,” Bugabula county MP, Maurice Kibalya.
The Minister of State for Tourism Hon Martin Mugarra Bahinduka tried to defend the Nyegenyege festival as a hub of tourism. However, his defense fell on deaf ears as the Speaker Anita among who directed that the festival be called off.
Mugarra said over 8,000 foreign tourists have already booked tickets for the event.
“We want to sell our country in the name of tourism, “we are talking about morality of this country; we are talking about our children. You are trying to promote tourism at the expense of our children? We are not going to allow this function to take place,” Among said.
The State minister for Ethics and Integrity, Rose Lily Akello, her ministry together with police has already summoned the organizers of this festival and demanded that they fulfill stipulated conditions if this festival is to take place.
“We have set up conditions such as; children below 18years are not supposed to attend, nobody should be there naked, or indulge in immorality,” Akello said. However, the Speaker stood her ground that the festival is cancelled.
The Nyegenyege festival has been on stand for now two years due to covid-19 restrictions and lockdowns. It’s now resuming since the last one of 2019.
