By Our Reporter
Kawuma Musafalu, the football coach at Youth community football teaml in Mukono, reportedly left the country on December 5, 2022, after claims of his alleged sexual orientation reached people at the school and local authorities.
This followed complaints from a group of parents who said the coach had been recruiting young people into gay activism across Mukono and nearby areas. As the concerns spread, Musafalu stopped turning up at the school. People in the area said he went into hiding before eventually leaving Uganda.
Apparently, lawmakers and government officials are increasingly talking about introducing a tough new law against same-sex relations and LGBTQ+ advocacy. If passed, the bill was expected to become one of the world’s strictest anti-LGBTQ laws, carrying the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality.”
The proposed measures are also said to target journalists, activists and sympathisers, with particular focus on people in sports who were accused of giving opportunities to young gay people.
Local sources further claimed Musafalu had ties to a group known as the “F-Group,” which they linked to gay men previously arrested in Namyooya. A source adds that Musafalu’s gay partner who usually identifies as Peter Bae was picked last Friday and taken to an unknown detention.
One source who asked not to be named said Musafalu had already been in and out of police stations over similar allegations. The source added that some of his own family members had wanted to kill him, which pushed him to flee to an unknown place. Reports circulating at the time suggested he might have reached Europe or Asia.
All of these details remain unconfirmed allegations. Team administration and local officials contacted by this newspaper did not confirm the claims, and neither police nor the school had issued any public statement by the time Musafalu was reported to have left but several confirm the gay allegations and previous arrests in Mukono and Kampala.
An insider shares that Musafalu was occasionally arrested and questioned at Mukono Central Police Station over LGBTIQ links under file number SD Reference No. 08/25/05/2022 but later released on Police Bond.
On 19 May 2022, security operatives attacked and destroyed properties of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG)‘s offices in Uganda. Gay activist, Norah Apio shared with our reporter that Musafalu who was at the SMUG offices to seek for legal help survived arrest.
It is widely reported that two staff members (referred to as DSB and HN for safety reasons) from SMUG reported the incident at the Ntinda Police Station in Kampala. Instead of receiving protection, they were accused of assault by the perpetrator of the destruction of SMUG’s offices, Elisha Mukisa, and the two were unjustly arrested and coerced into making incriminating statements.
Mukisa is a self-proclaimed “ex-gay” crusader and product of anti-rights, anti-gender and anti-LGBTQ+ groups in Uganda.
Earlier in 2014, President Museveni signed the Anti-Homosexuality that had been earlier passed by the Parliament of Uganda in December 2013.
