Asuman Basalirwa, Bugiri Municipality Member of Parliament, has described as “unfair” the decision by the World Bank to suspend funding of future projects in Uganda over the passing into law the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023.
He says the decision is an attack on Uganda’s legislative sovereignty.
“Unless the World Bank was looking for justification to stop lending us money, they are using this law merely as a reason to stop lending us money. When a country decides to take a direction, that direction must be respected. Uganda isn’t the only country with Anti-Homosexuality laws, Kenya, and Tanzania has, most of these African countries, why are they only targeting Uganda?” asked Basalirwa on Thursday
Basalirwa said that the Anti-Homosexuality Act was a choice Ugandans took by expressively speaking through their legislators, who deemed this behaviour as unacceptable and criminal.
Basalirwa, who was the mover of the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023, wondered if the World Bank wants Ugandans to first seek consent from Americans before any law is enacted in Uganda.
“Why do you punish a country for expressing a view? Because even where World Bank is located in the USA, polygamy is a crime in America. Are you saying that in America there are people who don’t wish to be polygamous? They are there. But because the country has chosen that to be their law, it must be respected. So, my appeal to World Bank is to respect the legislative sovereignty of Uganda,” he stated.
He further accused the World Bank of double standards, wondering why homosexuality rights are treated as supreme rights over other human rights violations Ugandans have endured, yet in all these cases, the World Bank remained silent.
“I find it as a display of double standards, what they are trying to do to us is actually blackmail. In fact, Uganda doesn’t have the harshest law. In Ghana, even mere expression has been criminalised, here, we don’t even criminalise existence. So why do they want to make the whole world assume that homosexual rights are superior and, therefore, if the law comes to limit those rights, everybody should be up in arms.”
New friends in Asia
The lawmaker called on Uganda to look for new friends in Asia and the Arab world, saying World Bank isn’t funding any project in Afghanistan but its people are still surviving.
“Let us look for new friends. We also need to rethink the extravagance that is exhibited in public offices, Ministers moving with huge convoys of cars and fuel guzzlers, must stop so that all that money is channelled into socio-economic transformation.”
In his response to World Bank, President Museveni said if there is absolute need for borrowing, there are a number of non-Bretton Woods sources from where Uganda can borrow.
“That is why some years ago, I put down my foot and forbade agreeing to any loan before my approval. Hence, we are now borrowing less and cautiously. Yet our economy is growing, other global challenges such as the war in Europe, corona, etc., notwithstanding.”
Museveni also noted that things are moving well in Uganda in spite of the corruption of some public servants and some elements of the political class.
“We do not need pressure from anybody to know how to solve problems in our society. They are our problems.”
In the same spirit, Basalirwa said Uganda being a God-fearing nation, must now fight corruption with the purpose of saving money to fill the gap left by the World Bank.
“We are a god-fearing country. God who created us will make us survive, it isn’t World Bank that created us, World Bank isn’t God. I know they aren’t believers in God.”