HOMOSEXUALITY: Uganda threatens to abandon US Market

The Minister of State for Trade, Harriet Ntabazi, has threatened that Uganda will abandon the US market if its participation is hinged on the condition that the country accepts homosexuality, arguing that the country already has enough markets to sell its products.

The Minister’s comment comes days after Odrek Rwabwogo, the Chairperson of the Presidential Advisory Committee on Exports and Industrial Development (PACEID), led a delegation to the USA to advocate against Uganda’s expulsion from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).

Despite Rwabwogo’s visit, the White House yesterday issued a Fact Sheet detailing penalties imposed on Uganda after signing the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023.

While at Parliament, Ntabazi noted that if America insists that a Ugandan woman should marry another woman, then Uganda shall do away with the [US] market because what Uganda is looking for in that market is political relationships.

She added that “….but real trade volumes, that have shaped Uganda to the Middle-income status, that (United States) isn’t one of them. We have enough markets for Uganda; we have the East African Community, we have Southern African Development Community (SADC), we have the European Union, we have markets in China and India,”

Ntabazi made the remarks during a media interview where she was clarifying the latest move by President Museveni to send his son-in-law, Odrek Rwabwogo, to negotiate on Uganda’s behalf following the pronouncement by the US to drop Uganda out of AGOA.

She said that Rwabwogo was chosen because he is the Special Presidential Advisor on Trade and Industry.

“The team was given powers to deliver the message of President Museveni, but of course, they will not push us to the wall because the President has been passionate about homosexuality and you can’t change his mind because that is the voice of Ugandans.

“Ugandans are saying, you can’t go homosexual and the President can’t come up and break that law because he is part of Ugandans. He is one of the indigenous Ugandans who have shaped it to what it is now,” said Minister Ntabazi.

The Minister also attacked the US for mixing issues of trade and human rights, saying Uganda already had complaints about the US demanding Uganda to only export raw materials without adding value.

She lamented that such a move is disadvantageous to Uganda thus calling for the need to conduct more negotiations to have such conditions changed.

“So, what we are waiting for is the US to understand that trade is different from human rights, these are quite divergent matters and the challenge we have is that the US doesn’t want us to add any value on anything. But of course, they brought in other issues to do with security, and violation of human rights and they assumed that if Uganda was on fire and there was going to be a coup, there is no coup that is going to be in Uganda,” added Ntabazi.

The African Growth and Opportunity Act provides duty-free access to the U.S. market for over 6,000 products.

AGOA promotes economic growth in eligible sub-Saharan African countries by providing duty-free access to the U.S. market, thereby increasing the competitiveness of qualifying products.