WALVIS BAY – A refugee detained for over a year at the Narraville police station holding cells at Walvis Bay is seeking refugee status in Namibia, citing persecution in Uganda.
The refugee who claims he is a gay from Uganda is allegedly scared to be deported to his country of origin and now wants Namibia to have mercy on him by granting him refugee status as he alleges he will be persecuted back home.
The detention of the refugee surfaced over the weekend when Nampol were tipped off on Sunday of the detention of at least four gay men who fled Uganda to avoid punishment for being gay.
Uganda has been making headlines in the media for its Uganda Anti-Homosexuality Act, of 2014.
The Act, also known as the ‘Kill the Gays Bill’ due to the originally proposed death penalty clauses in the Bill, was signed into law by the Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni in February this year.
The law prohibits same sex relationships. Anyone found guilty in this regard could face life in prison.
When contacted, the Deputy Commissioner for the Namibian Police in the Erongo Region, Ottilie Kashuupulwa, confirmed the refugee has been in detention at Narraville since last year.
Kashuupulwa said she was surprised the refugee “revealed only now that he is gay and from Uganda”.
“We had a few refugees last year and all of them have already been deported. This one however could not provide any information about himself. In fact he did not know his own country of origin, yet today he is gay and from Uganda,” Kashuupulwa said.
She said immigration authorities were dealing with his case. Last month at the Pan-African Parliament session in Midrand, South Africa the Ugandan president defended his country’s stance and said that attempts were being made to attack core African family values on matters such as the rejection of homosexuality.
“In the west they criminalise polygamy by law, while in Africa it is, and has always been, part of our way of life. Yet we do not complain. When we legislate homosexuality, in response to the western sponsored non-governmental organisations against traditional values, we are threatened with sanctions,” he said.
By Eveline de Klerk