LAST SUMMER Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza were sentenced to 14 years in prison in Malawi on charges of unnatural acts and gross indecency; both colonial-era laws.
The gay couple had been arrested the day after they had publicly celebrated their engagement. Such was the international outcry that within weeks Malawi’s president Bingu wa Mutharika pardoned the two men. A year later, the issue of gay rights remains a source of tension between the Malawian government and the donors that provide 40 per cent of its annual budget.
Homosexuality is a crime in Malawi, as it is in more than 35 other African states. Earlier this year Mutharika approved legislation criminalising sexual relations between women. Such moves have prompted some donors to withhold or renegotiate aid in protest. The issue has polarised Malawian civil society, with some groups arguing that the desperately poor southern African state faces more pressing challenges.
On a recent visit to Malawi, Minister of State for Trade and Development Jan O’Sullivan told government officials that Ireland was strongly opposed to the criminalisation of homosexuality. She requested that the legislation be reviewed as soon as possible. This year Ireland will channel almost €10 million in funding to organisations working in Malawi. Ms O’Sullivan couched her message to the Malawian government in references to Ireland’s own journey towards decriminalisation in 1993, and the recent introduction of civil partnership.
Malawi’s government has given short shrift to such entreaties. Mutharika has argued that homosexuality is alien to Malawian culture, and will never be legalised during his presidency. As in other African countries, donor pressure to repeal Malawi’s anti-gay laws is often painted as imperialistic.
A stronger stance by donors like Ireland is to be applauded, but given how easily motives can be misinterpreted, they must tread carefully. It is heartening to hear more influential African voices join the likes of Archbishop Desmond Tutu in deploring rising homophobia. Festus Mogae and Kenneth Kaunda, former presidents of Botswana and Zambia who now campaign to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS, recently condemned Malawi’s criminalisation of homosexuality as harmful to the fight against a disease that has ravaged the country.
“As long as we confine gays and lesbians into dark corners because of our inflexibility to accommodate them, the battle against HIV/AIDS can never be won,” Mogae noted – wise words that should be heeded in Malawi and beyond.