Good news for Ugandans, bad news for enemies of progress! The new US Ambassador to Uganda, H.E William Popp, recently announced that the US Government had approved the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) Country Operational Plan (COP) 2023 to ensure life-saving assistance continues to benefit the people of Uganda. This was during a courtesy call meeting with the Minister for the Presidency, Hon. Milly Babalanda.
H.E William Popp reaffirmed the US Government commitment to continue collaboration with Government of Uganda especially in the area of HIV and AIDS.
This piece of news was of so much relief to beneficiaries of this programme, caretakers, stakeholders and all people of goodwill, and we can’t thank the US Government enough for this support. Uganda’s objective of eradicating HIV/AIDS by 2030 depends on the goodwill, participation and support by as many partners as are willing to do their part. The continuation of this support package came amidst fears that critical support would be cut off in reaction to the passing of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2023, a subject matter that has been discussed widely in diverse forums. Personally, I believe that despite our diversity in terms of being and tastes and preferences, humanity unites us for the purpose of enabling us survive in this treacherous world.
While our American partners (in progress) are willing to show that our partnership with them matters, it’s astonishing that our own brothers and sisters are busy pushing to destroy fellow Ugandans. I am referring to the Bobi Wine group whose mission is to attempt to create a wedge in the partnerships we have with development partners in the hope that that would weaken Government and stir mass discontent among the public. Bobi Wine has severally spoken out, urged, petitioned and ever pressured the partners to cut off support to vital sectors of Uganda, ostensibly to hurt President Yoweri Museveni. This approach was applied before by FDC and other such players but for as long as they have failed to dislodge President Museveni, they have failed to impress the friends of Uganda, and Ugandans at large.
What President Museveni’s enemies fail to acknowledge is that he is not in power by the hand of and because of international partners; he is in power by the power and love of Ugandans who form the base of his support and service. Development partners know this very well. It is, therefore, in the interest of the Ugandan that they maintain healthy working relations with Ugandan despite the seasonal issues that arise in the relationship.
For Bobi Wine and his supporters to wage a negative publicity campaign targeting the opportunities available to Ugandans is a sign of how basic they are in their politics. They hate Ugandans more than they hate Museveni! If they want freebies from foreigners, there is a better way to earn those without sabotaging the common good. Who, in their right mind, celebrates if lifesaving support in the line of AIDS is cut off?
The opposition has tried so much- through deceptive human rights campaigns- to win donations from gullible organisations but, at this rate, that is as far as they can go. Up to now, we have not seen the medical report of the former Kyaddondo East MP when he sought treatment in USA after allegedly being mistreated by security forces. We have also seen his group claim to have thousands of names of supporters kidnapped, tortured or killed but when requested by the Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) to provide details for follow-up, they have little to show. This is not forgetting the petitions to the ICC seeking that the Court indicts President Museveni, whereas they have nothing but political gas to work with.
Just last Thursday, the Constitutional Court ruled in favour of Mityana Municipality MP, Hon. Francis Zaake, in a case in which he challenged his dismissal from the post of Commissioner of Parliament. Zaake (and others in opposition) always claim that there is no justice or rule of law in Uganda. The question is; was that a Court in Vietnam, Scandinavia, Mexico that ruled in his favour or, as usual, justice is only acknowledged when it goes their way? We are dealing with an absurd wave of self-entitlement and hypocrisy!
But these contradictions are fast catching up with Bobi Wine and his team because serious people are ignoring them, and have started exposing them and locking them out.
The staged protests in foreign lands for accountability to donors and a need to win sympathy for green cards and permanent residence will soon fizzle out when all the facts we have “on who is doing what, how, where and why” are laid bare.
A large number of Ugandans have left the country for USA (mostly) under the guide of political activism. In reality, they are using the political cover to achieve their own aims. I learnt recently that a number of elected political leaders in KCCA have abandoned their posts and gone AWOL after landing opportunities to travel abroad. In short, their goal for joining political activism was to gain visas but not to provide “alternative leadership.” Such groups when they reach their destination, in order to keep up the narrative that they are persecuted at home, embark on staging protests and other acts for favours from their hosts.
In America, I have seen some of the citizens starting to stage their own protests against foreigners who use deception to gain entry into their country. The world’s eyes are fast opening to these selfish schemes disguised as struggles for democracy and human rights. As it is for thieves, so it is for liars-forty days and the game is over!
The author is the Deputy Presidential Press Secretary
Email: faruk.kirunda@statehouse.go.ug
0776980486/0783990861
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