US BITES UGANDA MORE
As a way of compelling President Yoweri Kaguta Tibuhaburwa Museveni’s government to repeal the Anti-Homosexuality Act (AHA), the Joe Biden’s US administration has reduced the support it has been offering to Uganda.
President Museveni signed the Anti-Homosexuality Bill into law, attracting backlash from the US, other western powers and organizations.
President Biden insists that “the enactment of Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act (AHA) is a tragic violation of universal human rights—one that is not worthy of the Ugandan people, and one that jeopardizes the prospects of critical economic growth for the entire country,” according to the White House.
A fact sheet from the White House indicates that three ministries will be affected as Washington cuts government-to-government support for programs.
“We are curtailing direct government-to-government funding to programs implemented with Uganda. This includes new restrictions and redirections of impacted assistance, including through the Department of Defense and the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR),” read the fact sheet in part.
The US government will no longer give at least Shs57bn to the ministries of health, tourism and agriculture.
White House also says it will review assistance to the Ugandan military and related security operations.
“The Department of Defense is pausing approximately $15 million for all biological threat reductions activities with the Ugandan Ministries of Health, Agriculture, and Tourism, and will continue to review U.S. government-funded security assistance and military cooperation activities,” said the White House.”
For long, the Ugandan opposition has called on the US and other powers to stop funding President Museveni and his military. (Read Details Here and There).
Washington will also redirect HIV/AIDS funding to non-governmental partners.
“The U.S. Government also will redirect more than $5 million through PEPFAR from the Government of Uganda to non-governmental implementing partners due to concerns over how the AHA impacts the Government of Uganda’s ability to deliver services in a non-discriminatory manner.”
When the threat to pause funding for Ugandan HIV/AIDS patients’ drugs first came up, Ugandan politicians argued that they would rather die than accept homosexuality. (See Details Here and There).
The measures to cut funding come days after the US government slapped sanctions against Uganda Prisons boss Johnson Byabashaija for, among others, superintending over forceful anal examination for homosexuals. (See Details Here, There and Over There).
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