The minister, Atty. Gen. Ralph Kasambara, said this week that despite reports to the contrary, he had not issued any statements about the suspension of the anti-homosexual law. Such a move would run against a strong current of homophobia in much of Africa, driven by traditionalists, churches and religious conservatives.

“There was no such announcement and there was no discussion about same-sex marriages,” Kasambara said, according to Malawi’s Daily Times newspaper. “Nobody talked about suspension of any provision of the penal code.”

Kasambara had been widely praised for allegedly saying at a recent conference that Malawi would suspend the law to allow for public debate and a vote in parliament. The conference, sponsored by two Malawian rights groups, the Centre for Human Rights Rehabilitation (CHRR) and Centre for Development of People (Cedep) in Lilongwe was held to discuss ways to get a national consensus on decriminalizing homosexuality.

Human Rights Watch had called Malawi’s decision courageous. Amnesty International hailed it as an “historic step in the fight against discrimination.”

Kasambara had been quoted as saying there was a moratorium on the laws, meaning police would not prosecute people until parliament made a decision on whether to decriminalize homosexuality. He allegedly said it would be embarrassing to the government if people were charged with homosexuality, then it was decriminalized.

In an interview with ABC News, the nation’s top elected Republican seemed to indicate that Congress wouldn’t engage in the type of repeated repeal votes the way it had in the past two years. Boehner’s office provided a transcript of the exchange:

SAWYER:

A couple of other questions about the agenda now.  You have said next year that you would repeal the healthcare vote.  That’s still your mission?

BOEHNER:

Well, I think the election changes that.  It’s pretty clear that the president was reelected, Obamacare is the law of the land.  I think there are parts of the healthcare law that are gonna be very difficult to implement.  And very expensive.  And as the time when we’re tryin’ to find a way to create a path toward a balanced budget everything has to be on the table.

SAWYER:

But you won’t be spending the time next year trying to repeal Obamacare?

BOEHNER:

There certainly may be parts of it that we believe– need to be changed.  We may do that.  No decisions at this point.

The speaker’s pronouncement, if nothing else, signifies a pivot away from Republicans’ efforts to showcase for conservatives their doggedness in looking to repeal “Obamacare.”