Uganda’s president slams West following country’s removal from trade pact

By Hamza Kyeyune

KAMPALA, Uganda (AA) - Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni took a swipe at the West on Tuesday following his country’s removal from a major trade pact over alleged human rights violations.

In a nationally televised address, Museveni said that such trade restrictions and pressures have “no meaning” because Uganda is a nation of “wealth creators.”

“I want to address the pressures some foreigners are trying to put on Uganda to interfere in our internal matters. For somebody to come and say 'unless you follow what I'm telling you, I’ll not...they are really not serious,” he said.

Museveni, who has long struck a tone of defiance against Western pressure, said the imperialists “employed a 'divide and rule' strategy.”

"First of all, they are not well informed. They don't know much about us. Yes, this part of Africa was colonized, but it was colonized because of our chiefs. Our chiefs are the ones who were the weakness because of selfishness and greed. They would divide our people, and we could not unite to defend ourselves," he said.

“If we divide ourselves, then we'll be weak. But if we don't divide ourselves, then there's nothing we cannot do. Those putting pressure on us are just wasting their time. Foreign pressure has no meaning. What we can do is fight corruption, the usual problems, concentrate on regional integration. But internationally, we can trade with those people who respect us,” he emphasized.

“Now, to stand independently from Western influence, we must foster more patriotism and unity.”

US President Joe Biden announced last October that he was expelling Uganda along with some other African countries from a special US-Africa trade program with effect from Jan. 1, 2024, saying the countries were either involved in “gross violations” of human rights or not making progress toward democratic rule.

The African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa), introduced in May 2000, gives eligible sub-Saharan African countries duty-free access to the US for more than 1,800 products, in addition to the more than 5,000 products that are eligible for duty-free access under the Generalized System of Preferences program.