US govt rejects clerics’ plea on lifting travel restrictions

The United States government has rejected a request by a section of Ugandan religious leaders to lift travel restrictions imposed on some government officials.

While addressing journalists in Kampala last Wednesday, the Kampala Region Overseer for the National Fellowship of the Born-Again Pentecostal Churches of Uganda (NFBPC), Bishop Patrick Musoke, tasked the United States government, to lift travel restrictions.

The pastor said the action by the US government infringes on affected individuals’ freedom of movement.

Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) guarantees freedom of movement.

“The travel restrictions against government officials and laypeople must be lifted. We call upon the US government to lift the restrictions so that people may enjoy the freedom to travel.  They should listen and respect our freedom, values, and human rights of Ugandans,” Bishop Musoke said.

However, Ms Lindsey Spector, the US Mission Uganda’s spokesperson, in a December 30, 2023 email, said the United States is committed to using its full range of tools, including visa restrictions, to help counter serious human rights abuses and repressive acts across the world.

She said the current visa restrictions prevent those who undermine the democratic process or who repress individuals and violate human rights, from travelling, studying, or doing business in the United States.

 “In line with our support for democracy and human rights globally, the US Secretary of State announced an expansion of the 2021 visa restriction policy for individuals believed to be responsible for, or complicit in undermining the democratic process and repressing individuals in Uganda,”  Ms Spector  said.

 She noted that the revised policy will apply to specific individuals who undermine democracy and human rights, saying it is not broadly directed at the Ugandan people.

Ms Spector was, however, tight-lipped on affected individuals, saying under the US law, individual visa records are confidential. 

She, however, said the embassy in Kampala adjudicates between 15,000 and 20,000 applications every year.

 In a December 4, 2023 press statement, the US Secretary of State, Mr Anthony Blinken, said the current visa restriction policy is an extension of the 2021 restrictions that were targeting people who undermined Uganda’s democratic process during the 2021 polls, among other concerns.

 Pastor Yunus Mutembe, the spokesperson of the National Fellowship of the Born-Again Pentecostal Churches of Uganda (NFBPC), however, said the government should maintain its stand on the anti-gay, which was enacted last year.

“We don’t have to believe in what they believe in.  We should not bow to the pressures of those who are against the Anti- Homosexuality law,” he said.

Mr Asuman Basalirwa, the Bugiri Municipality Member of Parliament who tabled the contentious Anti- Homosexuality Bill for first reading on March 9, last year, noted that whereas the US, is a sovereign state , it should equally respect Uganda’s institutions, laws and values.

 Mr Ofwono Opondo, the spokesperson of the Government of Uganda, however, said the country has not yet received a formal communication about the concerns raised by the US government.

“The American government or its embassy has not shared with Uganda the list of their concerns.  Whether it is human rights abuse, whether it is the laws that we have passed. Secondly, they have not shared the list of individuals they hold culpable for the different breaches, ” he said last week.

Mr Godfrey Kabbyanga Baluku, the State Minister for Information Technology and National Guidance, at the weeken said travel restrictions to the US, are based on issues that are not well substantiated.

“If there is any clause in the Anti-Homosexuality Act [2023] that disturbs them, they can come, and we will negotiate. They are talking of human rights abuse, and we are saying, bring your report and then we verify whether those abuses are really true or have not been attended to,” he said.

Mr Baluku, however, said the government will continue using diplomatic channels to handle such issues.

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