US freezes aid, shuns govt in gay law protest
The East African - East Africa 08:48
The fall out from the contentious anti-gay law that President Yoweri
Museveni assented to last month took a new twist last week when US
embassy officials in Kampala confirmed that Washington was reviewing
its relations with Uganda.
The diplomats announced that the US would freeze financial aid meant
for its Centres for Disease Control (CDC), which operate under
Uganda's Ministry of Health.
READ: US mulls response to Uganda's anti-gay law but no easy answers
Seventy-five health workers, including laboratory technicians, field
officers and managers employed by the research institute, will now
lose their jobs. The freeze will however not affect other US
government programmes -- such as the provision of free antiretroviral
drugs.
The officials also adopted a diplomatic protest against Kampala for
criminalising homosexuality by boycotting public functions that the
government has organised. They have conspicuously kept away from
public functions, which has widely been interpreted as a boycott.
ALSO READ: Uganda faces tough choices as donors cut aid
According to Daniel Travis, the public affairs officer at the embassy,
the degree of the mission's engagement in public events may reflect
the ongoing internal review of the US government's relationship with
Uganda.
"Now that this law has been enacted, we are beginning an internal
review of our relationship with the government of Uganda to ensure
that all dimensions of our engagement, including assistance
programmes, uphold our anti-discrimination policies and principles and
reflect our values," Mr Travis wrote in an email to The EastAfrican.
"The review of our engagement is ongoing, and the degree of our
engagement in public events may reflect aspects of that review."
Last week, the embassy stayed away from a US-funded health fair
organised by Management Sciences for Health (MSH). The function was
meant to share government and non-governmental organisations' (NGOs)
success stories on some of their health initiatives.
The MSH is the main implementing agency supervising all NGOs working
on US Agency for International Development (USAid) -funded health
programmes, especially on HIV/Aids and malaria.
Stephen Lwanga, the MSH country representative, said the embassy
cancelled the invitation on Monday morning, just a day to the event.
Leslie Reed, the USAid mission director, was scheduled to present to
the government their development strategy and funding commitment to
Uganda.
That was the third time the US embassy officials have kept away from
Ugandan public functions since the Bill was signed into law.
A fortnight ago, the Irish and US envoys to Uganda skipped the launch
of a government campaign to end Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV,
presided over by First Lady and Minister for Karamoja Janet Museveni.
The envoys had shunned a breakfast launch of the programme at State
House, Nakasero.
US Ambassador to Uganda Scott DeLisi last month skipped the Golden
Jubilee celebrations of Kidepo Valley National Park despite having
confirmed he would attend.
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SIBOMANA Jean Bosco
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