The Ugandan government has slammed the United States’ over its decision to withdraw the country from a trade agreement due to human rights violations.
The United States said that it was cutting Uganda from the African Growth and Opportunity Act, AGOA agreement due to violations that involve same-sex marriage, as they will no longer benefit from the trade from January 2024.
In a letter directed to the senate president on Monday, Joe Biden, the US president, stated that it plans to remove Uganda, Gabon, Niger Republic, and the Central African Republic from AGOA.
He said the decision was made in response to the nations’ ongoing flagrant abuses of human rights that are known globally.
Earlier in the year, the US government said it was considering the removal of some countries from AGOA and introducing sanctions against them for passing anti-homosexuality law.
Those found guilty of participating in same-sex actions in this East African nation face the death penalty.
In a statement by the chairperson of the Ugandan Presidential Advisory Committee on Exports and Industrial Development (PACEID), Odrek Rwabwogo, while reacting to the announcement said the decision was only taken because the US Democratic Party disapproved of the country’s same-sex law.
Rwabwogo described the decision as punishing and stated that the US did not take into consideration that the law is popular among Ugandans.
“The reason given by U.S. President Biden was, ultimately, because Uganda’s democratically elected parliament passed an Act of which he and his colleagues in the U.S. Democratic party disapproved.
“It mattered not that the law in question – the Anti-Homosexuality Act (AHA) – is popular amongst Ugandans.
“There are numerous public opinion polls conducted by reputable Western opinion research companies that are a testament to that fact.
“However, it was not popular with President Biden and his colleagues. Therefore, it seems they have decided Ugandans should be punished”, the statement added.
The PACEID chairperson said no Ugandan, whatever their sexual preference will benefit from the US decision, adding that small businesses would bear the burnt.
“But more than that, it sends a message to all Ugandans indeed all Africans that their already slim prospects for economic prosperity are contingent on whether they vote in line with the values of whoever happens to hold high office in the U.S., not their own. They will not find this acceptable. Nor should they,” the statement added.
However, Rwabwogo said Uganda remains ready to discuss the decision with the US.
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