President Museveni addresses pilgrims at Namugongo martyrs shrine on June 3, 2024. PHOTO/ABUBAKER LUBOWA
President Museveni has said Uganda is a land of martyrs and actors fighting the country and its leaders over the May 2023 enactment of the Anti-Homosexuality Act will fail.
In an address to thousands of pilgrims at Uganda Catholic Martyrs Shrine in Namugongo, in Wakiso District, the President in off-the-cuff remarks said: “Like on the issue of homosexuals, they talk outside there so much; this one, that one. They don’t know that Uganda is a land of martyrs. If you want to play around, you play around with Uganda. You will see. You will not like it.”
The congregation roared. Several Western countries have condemned the legislation, which Ugandan leaders defend as necessary to protect family values and native culture.
The United States, one of Uganda’s biggest development partners, in protest, took the country off its preferential trade arrangement, formally called the Africa Growth Opportunity Act (Agoa).
In the wake of the anti-gay law, which provides for the death penalty for convicts of aggravated homosexuality, London and Washington have back-to-back slapped sanctions on senior Uganda government officials, including Parliament Speaker Anita Among, accusing the individuals of corruption and rights abuses.
Ms Among, who yesterday was the chief guest at Uganda Anglican Martyrs Site, a stone’s throw away from where President Museveni spoke, has argued that the asset, travel and financial freezes targeting her are nothing more than a witch hunt by the West for her role in chaperoning the 11th Parliament to enact a law they detest.
Nebbi Catholic Diocese Bishop Raphael P’Mony Wokorach, who is the Gulu Archbishop-designate, in his homily lauded parliamentarians for the courage to pass the law despite foreign opposition and intimidation.
“They tightened it [anti-gay law] and kicked it out [homosexuality]. Big courage!” the prelate said, drawing cheers from the crowds in sweltering weather.
The World Bank last year froze new loan approvals for Uganda as Parliament considered the draft anti-gay legislation, saying the spirit of the Bill violated the values of the Bank.
President Museveni in a bombshell called out the Bretton Woods institution for its “arrogance” and derided its action he said amounted to the use of the power of the purse to impose foreign culture on Uganda and its citizens.
However, the government and World Bank officials have been protracted talks to reset relations to normal, although a final outcome is awaited.
Archbishop-designate Wokorach, who was the main celebrant, challenged lawmakers to use the same strength to fight graft in the country.
He said he wished “the same policymakers could take the same energy to shoot out corruption”.
President Museveni agreed.
“Some of the speakers have talked about corruption. I totally agree with them. Corruption is becoming a problem and when I address the nation on the 6th [of this month], I will say more about the [war on] corruption,” he said.
The Inspectorate of Government, which is the official ombudsman, reported in September that Uganda loses Shs9 trillion annually. That is about 17 percent of the Shs52 trillion budget for the current financial year leaking into illegal pockets.
President Museveni has multiple times declared war on graft, proclamations Opposition leaders criticise as lip service. He yesterday put the country on notice to hear his new plan to end the vice in his State-of-the-Nation address that will precede the reading of the 2024/2025 Financial Year budget by a week.
Flanked by his wife Janet, who doubles as the Education minister, President Museveni used the 60th Uganda Martyrs Day anniversary to challenge clerics to preach the gospel of prosperity along with that of faith so that Christians are able to meet their physical needs on earth.
June 3 is annually celebrated to commemorate the group of 45 young men (22 Catholics and 23 Anglicans) killed allegedly on the orders of Buganda king Daniel Mwanga after they refused to renounce Christianity to which they had newly converted.
They were brutally executed in different places – Munyonyo, on Mityana Road and in Namugongo - between November 1885 and January 1887.
The theme of yesterday’s celebrations, animated by Nebbi Diocese, was: “As for me and my household, we shall serve the Lord,” taken from the Book of Joshua 24: 15.
Kampala Archbishop Paul Ssemogerere said the story of the martyrs should be a reminder of the cost of standing up for one’s faith and the enduring power of such a stand.
“As we commemorate this day, let us draw inspiration from their courage and commitment, striving to uphold the values they bravely defended,” he said.
