Govt unmoved by World Bank suspension of lending to Uganda

Government yesterday said it will not be moved by the World Bank’s decision to freeze issuance of new loans to Uganda over the Anti-Homosexuality Act, 2023.

The Minister for ICT and National Guidance, Dr Chris Baryomunsi, said the government will not tolerate the international lending institution’s imposition of immoral cultures such as homosexuality onto Ugandans for the sake of foreign financial cooperation.

“We have not officially received a statement from the World Bank but even when we get it, we have no regrets for passing the Anti-Homosexuality law,” he said.

“If they want to run the partnerships we have in that line, they are free to leave their funding because we shall not allow it. We believe in mutually respectful partnerships and are not prepared to take on immoral cultures”.

The World Bank on Monday said it has frozen approving new loans to Uganda over the anti-gay law, which they said contradicts the bank’s values and vision of eradicating poverty on a livable planet which can only succeed if it includes everyone irrespective of race, gender, or sexuality.

This means that no new project Uganda undertakes, apart from the current and still running 22 national and four regional projects worth $5.4 billion in World Bank funding, will be considered.

The Anti-Homosexuality Act came into effect on May 26 after President Museveni assented to a Bill that was passed by Parliament on May 2.

Days later on June 7, President Museveni told a US envoy at State House that the law does not criminalise an individual for simply being gay or lesbian contrary to popular and inaccurate claims by some Western world leaders and pro-gay activists.

He clarified that the Act prohibits and punishes recruitment of non-gay persons, especially children and indigents into homosexuality, exhibitionism and the promotion of homosexuality.

Under the law, perpetrators of prohibited homosexual actions can be sentenced to life imprisonment or death.

After it was enthusiastically passed with nearly all MPs in vehement support, the law was also almost unanimously endorsed by Ugandans across the country, including religious and cultural leaders.

It was hailed as an important instrument for the protection of the country’s African culture, family values and moral integrity, all of which are threatened by the insidious efforts of gay activists to normalise the same moral decadence now rife across most of the Western world in Uganda.

The President, however, later told the country to prepare for increased economic pressures resulting from decisions like the World Bank’s. The US government and some of its allies like Britain, the European Union countries and Canada all said they would review aid to Uganda over the law.

Dr Baryomunsi said even if the government were to engage the World Bank over its decision, the option of repealing the law shall not be accepted.

“We are going to invest more in our country’s production and services to reduce dependence [such foreign aid],” he said.

The Finance ministry spokesperson, Mr Jim Mugunga, assured the public that they are engaging the World Bank over their decision.

“We started these engagements even before the law was passed and have continued to engage them, and we are optimistic that our engagements will bear positive fruits. For now, it is too early to think about Plan B because the statement was released yesterday [Monday],” he said.

Mr Frank Mugisha, a gay activist, said yesterday that there are no ‘additional measures’ which can make this law acceptable.

“Uganda’s Ministry of Health has tried to reassure international funders of a commitment to non-discrimination in healthcare but the lived reality for LGBTIQ Ugandans living under this law tells a very different story,” he said.

Another similarly inclined activist, Ms Clare Byarugaba said in a statement that, “other countries considering similarly discriminatory laws should take notice of the World Bank’s decision and the negative economic impact on their economies”.