Simon Lokodo has had an enormous influence on laws and the practice of laws in Uganda. In 2012, Simon worked with the police to raid and shut down a gay activism seminar. “I have closed this conference because it’s illegal. We do not accept homosexuality in Uganda.,” he had said. In a 2014 interview with Stephen Fry, he had said, “…men raping girls. Which is natural.” In February 2014, he had worked to enact the dress code legislation aimed primarily at women. He had said, “If you dress in such a way that you irritate the mind and excite the people then you are badly dressed; if you draw the attention of the other person outside there with a malicious purpose of exciting and stimulating him or her into sex.”
He is also mostly known for his work in enforcing anti-LGBT laws and ideologies in Uganda, especially by lobbying persistently for the death penalty for gay sex for years. He is quoted as saying, “Homosexuality is not natural to Ugandans, but there has been a massive recruitment by gay people in schools, and especially among the youth, where they are promoting the falsehood that people are born like that. Our current penal law is limited. It only criminalises the act. We want it made clear that anyone who is even involved in promotion and recruitment has to be criminalised. Those that do grave acts will be given the death sentence.” He also claimed that Uganda is “tolerant” of gay people because the country doesn’t “slaughter them”.
Simon Lokodo who served as the country’s Minister for Ethics and Integrity since 2011, lost his seat as an MP for Dodoth West County in the Kaabong district last Saturday. He has now been unseated and is no longer a member of the Parliament of Uganda. According to PinkNews, in the heated run-off in Dodoth West in Uganda’s Karenga District, Lokodo was defeated in the ruling party National Resistance Movement primaries by challenger Baatom Ben Koryang, who had previously worked as a District Community Development Officer.
