Uganda has complained that its removal from the AGOA is a deliberate attempt to undermine African economic development.
This week the United States removed four African countries from AGOA – Uganda, Central African Republic, Niger and Gabon. The African Growth and Opportunities Act was passed in 2000 to allow selected African countries duty-free access for their products to the USA. The other countries were struck off for bad governance but Uganda was removed from AGOA because it passed the Anti-Homosexuality Bill in May.
It is a cardinal principle of guerrilla warfare that you don’t fight battles that you can’t win. President Museveni must have known that there would be a severe international backlash to this repressive legislation. There is no point in now complaining that Western nations are not being sympathetic to African cultural values.
The Anti-Homosexuality Act was also unnecessary. Homosexuality was already criminal under the colonial-era Penal Code. The ambiguous new legislation only introduced new punishments and offences including capital punishment for ‘aggravated’ homosexuality.
The Anti-Homosexuality Act has achieved nothing except Uganda losing its duty-free access to the American market. It was an own goal.
Quote of the day: “The people must defend themselves, but they must not sacrifice themselves.”
Salvador Allende The Marxist politician became President of Chile on November 4, 1970