Tanzania gorvernment to probe syndicates involved in gay sex businesses

Tanzania is set to make public a list of names of all gay people. This announcement was made on Saturday after dozens of AIDS clinics were shut down on grounds of promoting homosexuality.

The country's deputy  Health minister Hamisi Kigwangalla according to a Daily Nation's report, said on Twitter that the government was investigating "the homosexuality syndicate" and would arrest and prosecute those involved in the gay sex business.

"I will publish a list of gay people selling their bodies online. Those who think this campaign is a joke are wrong.

"The government has long arms and it will arrest all those involved quietly. Once arrested they will help us find others," he wrote.

Gay male sex is punishable by anything from 30 years to life imprisonment under Tanzanian law, but there is no such ban on lesbian relations.

However politicians have largely ignored the gay community — which was not subject to levels of discrimination seen in other countries such as neighbouring Uganda — until a recent spike in anti-gay rhetoric by the government, the report further states.

In July last year, the regional commissioner for the port city of Dar es Salaam, Paul Makonda, announced a crackdown against gays, followed by arrests in clubs.

Some people who have been openly gay on the internet stopped posting after Makonda threatened that police would arrest those who follow them on social media.

Dozens of men suspected of being gay have been detained and taken to hospital for anal exams to confirm their sexuality.

Death Sentence
Also in July last year the government banned the import and sales of sexual lubricants, which Health Minister Ummy Mwalimu said encouraged homosexuality, which led to the spread of HIV/AIDS.

On Thursday the government announced it was stopping many privately run health centres from providing AIDS-related services after they were accused of providing services to homosexuals.

"We have suspended the provision of HIV and AIDS services at less than 40 drop-in centres for key populations operated by NGOs countrywide after it was established that the centres were promoting homosexuality, which is against Tanzania's laws," Mwalimu told a press conference.

Last year she said it was estimated that 23 per cent of men who have sex with men in Tanzania were living with HIV/AIDS.

Homosexuality is illegal in 38 of 54 countries in Africa, and is punishable by death in Mauritania, Sudan and Somalia, according to Amnesty International.

Uganda in 2014 tried to impose the death penalty on those found guilty of being homosexual, however the controversial law was later repealed.'