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| Columnists | | LETTER FROM NAMIBIA:
Condoms to inmates still unacceptable | Kiangiosekazi wa Nyoka
Daily News; Friday,July 04, 2008 @00:01
| WHAT a coincidence! My Anglican Church and my employer are presently struggling with harsh realities of the present world in their quest to serve people while on this planet.
My church is under threat of schism that revolves around the issue of homosexuality, the ordination of a homosexual bishop, in particular. The questions are: whether or not there is nothing wrong in having a homosexual bishop and whether there is any scriptural prescription for such behaviour in the Bible. My employer is urged to give prisoners condoms to fight the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
The Anglican prelates in the US and Canada support the ordination of homosexuals whereas the prelates of Africa, the Caribbean and Latin American do not embrace homosexuality. The latter consider homosexuality as a violation of basic church values. American and Canadian prelates who support homosexuality do not consider this to be a sin. Unlike our clergy who call sodomy homosexuality we the guys in the world of Corrections call homosexuality sodomy.
Prelates who believe homosexuality is a sin met recently in Jerusalem in the name of Global Anglican Future Conference (Gafcon) and declared their independence from the Church of England. They considered how best to form their own church. Gafcon said they were not prepared to be part of any movement that seeks to legitimize homosexuality or same-sex unions within the Anglican Church. In August the two opposing sides will meet in the Lambert Anglican Conference in London, and it is feared the row may finally break the church.
Namibia has a new Minister of Safety and Security, Dr Nickey Iyambo. He visited all prisons and finally reported to parliament what he learned during his tour. Dr Iyambo, reported that Namibia needs specialized personnel in prisons to address the re-offending attitudes of offenders who are behind bars.
Out of the blue, a member of the opposition, Ms Elma Dienda, urged the government to give prisoners condoms. She puts it this way: “those in the cells have (sexual) needs they want satisfied and men help men while women help women.” She said condoms should be distributed as a matter of necessity.
Her comments sparked off sharp reactions from SWAPO ruling party members. SWAPO members argued that prisoners do not engage in sexual activities. Deputy Minister of Labour Peter Ilonga, who was imprisoned during the apartheid era, said he never practised sodomy while he was in prison.
Mr Ilonga reacted angrily: “I and Ben Ulenga (Leader of the Opposition to the Parliament) and others were in Robben Island prison in South Africa for many years, but never, never did we practise something like this. Distributing condoms to prisoners just encourages them to commit a crime.”
The protagonist on this argument contend that the weakest in prison are raped and that pretending that sodomy is not practised in prison is a fruitless attempt to run away from the stark reality. People who suggest that sodomy is not practiced in prison are living in a different planet, parliament was told. But Deputy Local and Regional Government and Housing Minister Kazenambo Kazenambo supported courageously Dienda. “We should not play ostrich politics on this topic. (Such denial) will take us to no where. We must accommodate this matter.”
Those who still maintain that condoms should not be distributed to prisoners, make that argument because they do not want to be seen to be encouraging commission of a crime in prisons. But may be it is wiser to have a fresh look at the law that criminalises sodomy. That law should be viewed as a bad law that should go in the interest of fighting the HIV/AIDS pandemic!
The question of whether or not condoms should be distributed to inmates in Namibia has refused to die. A columnist of the Namibian newspaper Gwen Lister said there is good documentary evidence throughout the world showing that sex takes place in the prisons, regardless of one’s moral or other viewpoints on the issue.
The New England Journal of Medicine, she said, says in 2004 1.8 per cent of US prisoners were HIV positive, more than four times the estimated rate in the general population. “This must usually tell us something,” she asserted.
Another columnist Alfredo Tjurino Hengari accused our parliamentarians of presenting arguments that lacked intellectual content. He said, “we cannot imagine how many other issues are dealt with in such casual manner. More knowledge, in the form of a study, about the extent of sexual activity among inmates would have avoided such a petty discussion to occur in the House that should reflect a high degree of intellectual content.”
The issue is knocking on the Tanzania’s door. Stand up and face the truth. Advice: Before you take sides, contact my friend, Dr Salum Chambuso, the Tanzania Prison Service Chief Medical Officer. He has data on the inmates’ sexual activities in the prison. But do no insist that he should say condoms should be given to prisoners. Why? He will hesitate to say so because sodomy is a criminal offence even in Tanzania. May be it is time Tanzania thought of decriminalising sodomy to fight successfully AIDS.
Enjoy your Otjesomething. mailto:kiangiosekazi@yahoo.com
nyoka2006@hotmail.com +264811294324
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