THE IMPACT OF THE ANTI-HOMOSEXUALITY ACT 2023 0N THE INTERPRETATION AND TRANSLATION INDUSTRY IN UGANDA

THE IMPACT OF THE ANTI-HOMOSEXUALITY ACT 2023 ON THE INTERPRETATION AND TRANSLATION INDUSTRY IN UGANDA

The interpretation and Translation industry in Uganda is still a young and  growing one.

The demand for Translators and Interpreters of frequently translated languages like Luganda, Lusoga, Samia, Portuguese, French, Arabic has been becoming high in Uganda.

It has been because of the high number of international Conferences that have been hosted in Uganda over the years by the United nations Agencies, Non governmentantal organisations and private companies and Agencies.

With the coming of the new legislation in Uganda of Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023 which prohibits and sets strong punishment of life imprisonment and death penalty, most international bodies like the United Nations, European Union and most powerful countries like the United States of America, United Kingdom among others have threatened to withdraw their funding and Aid to Uganda.

Furthermore, most Non-Governmental Organisations in Uganda are funded by International bodies like the European Union, USAID which have also threatened to withhold their Aid to the Ugandan based Non-Governmental Organisations.

With all these developments and threats, it is most likely that the number of international conferences which need the services of interpreters hosted in Uganda will reduce with a big margin.

This will strongly undermine the growth of the young Translation and Interpretation industry which was trying to come out of the effect of Covid-19 which strongly hit it.

It will only take the intervention of the hand God for this young and growing industry to see the light of day as it is most likely to lose out on several international businesses and clients given the fact that most clients are not nationals of Uganda.

This will in turn negatively affect the Ugandan based Interpretation and Translation Agencies like Anza Translations services, Igloos consultancy Ltd among others as their main clients are international clients which will in turn also affect the Revenue of the Ugandan Government in terms of reduced taxes which come from this industry.