Faith Nyasuguta
President Yoweri Museveni has firmly declared that foreign influences pose no threat to Uganda’s sovereignty or economic progress. This assertion follows sanctions imposed by the United Kingdom and the United States on Uganda’s Speaker of Parliament, Anita Among, and ministers, including Goreti Kitutu, Agnes Nandutu, and Amos Lugolobi.
Under Among’s leadership, Parliament enacted the Anti-Homosexuality Act in May 2023, which has faced widespread criticism from various international donors. The US State Department announced on May 30, 2024, that Among was sanctioned for her involvement in significant corruption related to her leadership in Uganda’s Parliament.
The UK had previously sanctioned Among in April, freezing her property and financial assets in London. This has prompted multiple investigations, with state agencies and President Museveni demanding that Among clarify her assets and financial holdings as required under the Leadership Code Act.
Among contends that the corruption allegations are merely a pretext by Western nations, asserting that the real motive behind the sanctions is her role in overseeing Uganda’s anti-homosexuality act, which includes a death penalty for aggravated homosexuality.
In his State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Thursday, Museveni stressed that no foreign entity has the power to intimidate the people of Uganda. “Uganda’s economy and society are moving forward, the mistakes by some actors notwithstanding. The foreigners interfering in our internal affairs are not a threat at all. There is no foreigner who can threaten us, “nobody can threaten us,” Museveni stated.
The President also urged the East African community to strive for unity by fully adopting the Common Market Protocol and Customs Union Protocols to consolidate the fragmented markets of East Africa into a single unified market. Additionally, he announced a directive to halt the export of raw minerals to encourage local processing and value addition.
Highlighting Uganda’s economic achievements, Museveni noted that the country has attained lower middle-income status with a per capita income of USD 1182. “We have just entered the ground floor of the middle income. Just the first floor…we are down there now,” Museveni observed.
Speaker of Parliament Among supported the President’s remarks, emphasizing that the State of the Nation Address was an opportunity to reflect on the country’s achievements in the past year, the inherent challenges, and the government’s legislative agenda for the upcoming session.
She also reaffirmed Parliament’s commitment to achieving Uganda’s Vision, urging MPs not to be discouraged by what she described as the noise and actions of detractors and enemies of Uganda’s progress.
“We are aware that the call to leadership sometimes comes with the risk of being misunderstood, criticized, opposed, accused, sanctioned, or even rejected. But we owe it to our society to stand firm,” Among said.
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