UGANDA. SPEAKER BACKS DEATH PENALTY

Uganda’s Speaker of Parliament, Edward Ssekandi, said he does not support the abolition of the death penalty.
While meeting a delegation from the African Commission on Human Rights at Parliament, he said, "Personally, I will not stand and say abolish it."
The delegation was meeting different government institutions and NGOs to promote human rights concerns.
Madame Reine Alapini-Gansou, a member of the five-person delegation, told the Speaker that she believed ending the death penalty was a human rights priority.
"Nobody should take away the life of another person. Africa should be united under this principle," she said.
Ssekandi acknowledged that the issue was a "delicate one," but said he believed that eliminating the death penalty would send the wrong message, particularly to rural Ugandans.
"You can't tell people that you can kill someone and never be touched. It would cause anarchy in our villages," he said.
The Speaker said that although many Ugandans received a death sentence in court, "the punishment has been rarely carried out."