NKUMBA UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF LAW AND INSTITUTE OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Criminal Liability course work
Aronyu Athanasius .B. 2013/AUG/LLB/B11914
Question
Analyse the effect of the anti-pornography act 2014 on the Ugandan society.
Pornography only became a critical issue in 2003 where the then minister for ethics thought it prudent to set up a committee to investigate the concern and consequently, a bill was proposed in 2005. After thorough review, it was presented to parliament in 2011 by the new minister for ethics.1 The president later on the 6th February 2014 assented and passed the bill into law.2
Under Section 2 of the act, pornography is defined as any representation through publication, exhibition, cinematography, indecent show, information technology or by whatever means of a person engaged in real or stimulated sexual activities or any representation of the sexual parts of a person for primarily sexual excitement.
First and foremost, from a layman’s view by introducing the phrase ‘‘by whatever means’’ in the middle of the definition of pornography, the previous words, i.e. ‘‘....through publication, exhibition, cinematography, indecent show, information technology, or.....’’ became completely unessential.
From a legal view, the Act introduces two complex legal phrases i.e. ‘‘sexual parts of a person’’ and ‘‘for primarily sexual excitement’; but does not provide any answers to the following legal questions; what is the legal definition of ‘‘sexual parts of a person’’? What is meant by ‘‘for primarily sexual excitement’’?
Perhaps the definition of ‘‘sexual parts of a person’’ can only be traced in the Anti-Pornography Bill, 2011 which gave birth to the Anti-Pornography Act 2014. Therein, ‘the sexual parts of a person’ were stated to include; ‘‘breasts, thighs, buttocks or genitalia’. However, this clarification was subsequently omitted from the Anti-Pornography Act, 2014 thereby leaving ‘‘the sexual...