Museveni minister tells off Biden administration: We can’t lose sleep over baseless visa sanctions

Junior foreign affairs minister Henry Okello Oryem has termed US president Joe Biden administration’s visa restrictions against Museveni government officials as baseless.

On Friday, US secretary of state Antony Blinken announced travel restrictions for Ugandans accused of undermining democracy and violating human rights.

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Oryem is the second high profile Museveni government official to shred the visa restrictions attempt.

Government spokesperson Ofwono Opondo termed the visa ban cheap blackmail.

Kampala is still wondering why secretary Blinken didn’t mention the names of affected officials.

List: Here are top Museveni security chiefs, Ministers reportedly on travel ban list after US announced visa restrictions

Hours after the announcement of sanctions, minister Oryem said Ugandans should not lose sleep over the sanctions, adding that the unnamed affected officials weren’t dying to go to the US.

“It is unfortunate that the US is punishing individuals in Uganda wrongly without having real proof beyond doubt that they are the causers of those allegations,” Oryem told NBS TV.

“I don’t think those officers sanctioned are dying to go to the US. We are not moved, shaken but remain focused on fulfilling the mandate given to us by the people of Uganda. We will continue executing our manifesto accordingly without losing sleep over that matter.”

The minister urged the US government to respect Kampala, stop working on the whims of lobbyists and offer evidence to prove their allegations.

“There should have been direct engagement between the two governments and not because of pressure from individual pressure groups and lobbyists,” continued Oryem.

“Those allegations were responded to by the government of Uganda and we expected the US government and others to have respected our response.”

He further argued that the allegations on which the sanctions are rooted have no basis.

He noted that the Biden administration’s “decisions are based on newspaper reportings and pressure from individuals, pressure groups, and lobbyists which is very unfortunate.”