Ugandan President Gen Yoweri Kaguta Tibuhaburwa Museveni has blasted world leaders like his US counterpart Joe Biden, other donors and development partners for seeking to force homosexuality on Uganda by threatening to withhold aid and loans.
President Museveni has told Ugandans not to worry about Biden’s decision to remove Uganda from the list of African nations benefiting from the AGOA trade deal.
Citing alleged human rights violations, Biden announced that Kampala would cease to benefit from AGOA next year. (See Details Here and There).
But Museveni says that Western World countries and organizations think they are so powerful and important and that the rest of the world, particularly the freedom fighters of Africa, is powerless.
“I need to advise you not to be over-concerned by the recent actions by the American Government in discouraging their companies from investing in Uganda and on removing Uganda from the AGOA list,” said Museveni.
“Some of these actors in the Western World overestimate themselves and underestimate the freedom fighters of Africa. On account of some of the freedom fighters making mistakes of philosophy, ideology and strategy, some of the foreign actors, erroneously think that African Countries cannot move forward without their support.”
The elderly and long-serving Ugandan leader further assured citizens that the country was capable of sustaining itself provided the citizens followed the eight pillars championed by the NRM government.
“Certainly, as far as Uganda is concerned, we have the capacity to achieve our growth and transformation targets, even if some of the actors do not support us. It is the eight points that I outlined for you at our recent Independence celebrations that are decisive,” Museveni reminded the his countrymen and women.
“The eight points are: patriotism – not following politics of identity but following politics of interests; supporting the private sector; economic infrastructure development to lower the costs of doing business in the economy; regional integration to create big markets that can absorb our products; working with foreigners who respect us; eliminate corruption; social infrastructure to develop the human resource through universal education and health, and protecting the environment that controls our water and our rain.”
But Museveni was happy that the US government did not stop buying Ugandan HIV/AIDS patients ARV drugs as Washington had threatened. (See Details Here and There).
“It is good that the American Government avoided the mistake of de-funding the procurement of the HIV drugs for our 1.4 million People on those drugs,” he noted.
“However, all our People on the ARVs and all the Ugandans need to know that we had a contingency plan to fully fund the procurement of those drugs if ever the external funders were unable to fund them.”
Museveni also wondered why the US and other western powers do not pile pressure on Arab countries with similar or even harsher laws against gay people.
“These pressures from outside are joogo (dharau – looking down upon somebody, underrating somebody) towards the Africans and must be rejected. I am told that some of the Arab Countries, have similar laws. Why don’t these actors put similar pressures, on them?” asked Museveni.
“In 1963, the OAU was founded in Addis Ababa. Only 36 African Countries were independent that time and they are the ones that attended. Almost another 20 countries were not yet Independent. That OAU meeting, then, demanded that all the African countries, must be independent, either by peace or by war,” he wrote.
“The ‘jogooists’ (the arrogant) of the World, mocked us. What can Africans do? In 1964, Frelimo launched the Armed struggle against the Portuguese Army in Mozambique, joining the MPLA that had launched an uprising earlier. By 1994, the whole of Africa had been liberated by the force of the Africans supported by the Socialist Countries of the Soviet Union, China, Cuba, etc. Africa has got all the ingredients to succeed if we use them correctly.
Uganda, under the NRM, is and will succeed, regardless of what some of the external actors and internal detractors do.”
He was also told Ugandans that Kampala had allies in the Western World. He said: “The further good news, is that not all the Western Countries’ actors are of the same arrogant attitude. Many, actually, either agree with us or believe in the correct principles of live and let live. Even in the colonial times, some Western actors supported our anti-colonial struggle. People like Fenner Brockway, Dingle Foot, Olof Palme, etc., supported us.”
Museveni’s comments come after US President’s trade envoy told Uganda’s trade minister that the president must delete the Anti-Homosexuality Act from the law books or else wait and see Biden remove Kampala from the list of AGOA beneficiary nations. (See Details Here).
