What if Museveni signed the anti-gay bill?

The President of Uganda Yoweri Kaguta Museveni

                                                                                                                                                                       President Museveni may be aging but the man still knows the tricks of playing Omweeso: be fast going forward, reverse for a catch and fake a step when your opponent blinks.

His return for the Presidency in 2016 is not surprising because he, in 2005, did not move to remove presidential term limits to benefit anyone else. But his pronouncement on Sunday that he would sign the anti-gay bill caught many by surprise – yet it must have been calculated.

If his signature, or even just stating that he would sign, can serve as ample reward to his NRM party MPs for nominating him as the unopposed NRM candidate for Presidency in  2016 then why not?

If public servants are unpaid for four months then why not promise them an anti-gay signature so that they have something else to talk about other than crying “poverty”, “poverty” all the time?

Why not provoke Obama on the anti-gay front so he has something else to attend to other than Uganda in the South Sudan conflict?

To Museveni, this quote from Obama’s reaction must have not been unexpected:  “As we have conveyed to President Museveni, enacting this legislation will complicate our valued relationship with Uganda. At a time when, tragically, we are seeing an increase in reports of violence and harassment targeting members of the LGBT community from Russia to Nigeria, I salute all those in Uganda and around the world who remain committed to respecting the human rights and fundamental human dignity of all persons.”

So, what if Museveni signed the anti-gay bill?

Some circles suggest that Museveni would sign it knowing that it would be challenged in the courts of law because Parliament passed it without quorum. And he would find some people to blame for “misleading” him into signing it. Life would continue as usual. After all, he has ever appointed former Kampala mayor Ntege Ssebagala minister knowing that he would never go past the Parliament appointments committee given his criminal record and insufficient education.