PERSONS IN UGANDA

(a) Person convicted of an offence under section 167 after having been
previously convicted as an idle and disorderly person;
(b) ...;
(c)
Suspected person or reputed thief who has no visible means of subsistence
and cannot give a good account of himself or herself;
and such circumstances as to lead to the conclusion that such person is
there for an illegal or disorderly purpose,
shall be deemed to be a rogue and vagabond, and commits a misdemeanour and is
liable for the first offence to imprisonment for six months, and for every subsequent
offence to imprisonment for one year.
Being ‘rogue and vagabond’ is a colonial provision that was used to control people and
to wantonly arrest people on the flimsiest of grounds. It subsisted after independence
for the same reasons. It is a provision that is very broad and that can be used to cover
all persons and any persons at any time. For this reason it is preferred by the Police
as they do not have to prove much. It is thus a very dangerous provision for LGBTI
persons because many of them do not have a sustained means of subsistence due to
the systematic discrimination and are likely to be found in places which are reputed
to harbour ‘rogues and vagabonds’ since such places are cheaper and affordable to
people who are unemployed.
Since it is broad sweeping provision, even when someone is arrested on allegations
of ‘sodomy’, the Police would charge them with being ‘rogue and vagabond’. But
again, in most cases, the cases are dismissed for want of prosecution.
Section 381-Personation
(1) Any person, who, with intent to defraud any person, falsely represents himself or
herself to be some other person, living or dead, commits a misdemeanour;
(2) If the representation is that the offender is a person entitled by will or operation
of law to any specific property, and he or she commits the offence to obtain that
property or possession of it, he or she is liable to imprisonment for seven years.
HRAPF has so far only recorded one case of personation against an LGBTI person
that has made it to the courts of law. As can be envisaged, the charge was against
a transgender woman, and the case was dismissed for want of prosecution. 37 The
others usually end at the Police station.
From the definition of ‘personation’ under the law, it is odd for a transgender person
to be charged under it. Personation is about representing oneself to be ‘some other
person’ and with an intention to defraud. Transgender people are not trying to be
anyone else but themselves, and also they do not intend to defraud anyone. However,
for the Police and most members of the public, the was they dress or act is seen
as fraudulent and intended to misrepresent themselves as some other people.
Transgender women are more vulnerable to this provision.
37 Uganda v Boaz Kalyeija, Criminal Case No 18 of 2015
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