Prime
Museveni: I don’t need anything from US. Really? How about aid?
Mr Musaazi Namiti
What you need to know:
- ‘‘Mr Museveni could not be challenged by anyone at the State House event for two reasons”
On NBS’s evening news on December 8, a strap (text on a band across the bottom of a TV screen) hollered something that was hard to ignore: “I DON’T NEED ANYTHING FROM US – MUSEVENI.”
I was not in front of the TV when the news broadcast went on air, but I caught the strap on NBS’s Facebook page. The TV station takes screenshots and uses them on its social media platforms to promote its stories.
President Museveni had earlier in the day spoken at a thanksgiving service at the State House, Entebbe, where he made those comments while reacting to visa restrictions imposed by the US on individuals blamed for serious human rights violations and those who pushed for the Anti-Homosexuality Act.
I was not surprised by his comments. Mr Museveni, after all, is a politician — and politicians have the unfortunate knack of showing total disregard for the truth. Barely electable presidential candidates, for example, shout “absolutely” when reporters ask them if they will win an election.
It is safe to conclude that Mr Museveni was pretending that he was unfazed by Washington’s punitive action because the overwhelming evidence of assistance the US gives to Uganda simply means he needs many things from the world’s richest nation.
Let us take a quick look at the evidence. For six years, the US embassy in Kampala has been publishing what it calls the Report to the Ugandan People, and the report says Washington spends almost $1 billion (Shs3.6t) annually on Ugandan communities.
That is more than Uganda’s annual health budget for the past few years, and Uganda (or Mr Museveni’s government) does not even have to pay back anything.
“You may not always see our flag on large buildings or billboards, but as a result of the United States’ investment, millions of Ugandans are living healthy, learning better, earning more,” said Natalie E. Brown, the US ambassador who left Uganda in August.
She could not have been more right. More than one million HIV-positive Ugandans receive US-funded ARV treatment, and the US has donated more than 18 million Covid-19 vaccine doses.
The State Department says on its website that the US “provides significant … security assistance to Uganda”. US officials use their words advisedly, so when you see “significant” in a statement, you have to conclude that it is something substantial.
In 2019, the department said the US was playing a key role in supporting the professionalisation of the Ugandan military. An article published in 2016 by Foreign Policy, a US magazine, said the US has trained more troops from Uganda than from any other nation in sub-Saharan Africa except Burundi. It added that the UPDF was using sophisticated communications equipment, night-vision goggles, and surveillance drones — all from US companies. Considering that Mr Museveni has relied on the military to cling to power and the US is helping the army, it is all too easy to see that he actually needs Washington for survival.
From military assistance to health to education, improving tax collection and oil revenue management, the US says it is playing a major role.
Mr Museveni could not be challenged by anyone at the State House event for two reasons: First, it would be extremely risky and impolite to do so. You disagree with Museveni publicly, you are out.
Second, people who work with him (including religious leaders whom he gives cars bought with taxpayers’ money) have perfected their skill of pretending that he is always right. But he is not, of course. We (journalists) and many Ugandans know this.
Mr Namiti is a journalist and former Al Jazeera digital editor in charge of the Africa desk
[email protected] @kazbuk
