August 25, (THEWILL) – Ugandan opposition leader, Robert Kyagulanyi, popularly known as Bobi Wine, has accused the World Bank of championing gay rights while ignoring other issues.
Bobi Wine’s opposition to the World Bank came in response to the World financial institution’s action, which on August 8, 2023, halted new loans for Uganda’s development projects, following the country’s enactment of the Anti-homosexuality Act, 2023.
The development, Ugandan said, would affect projects worth $1.8 billion (Ush6.7 trillion).
However, Kyagulanyi accused the World Bank of selectively championing gay rights while ignoring other issues.
“While I was abroad, many of you received the news that the World Bank had suspended loans to Uganda. We welcomed that, however, I was unhappy that they were only holding back loans over the anti-gay law. Does that mean if Museveni repeals that law, you will continue to give him money when he massacres Ugandans?
“We urge the American Government to change its policy towards Uganda and the Museveni regime. People were killed in the 2009 Kayunga riots, hundreds were killed by the regime in Kasese in 2016 and many others were killed during the November 2020 riots as well as during the 2021 general elections campaigns, but all these lives did not matter because the World Bank and IMF continued to shower Museveni’s regime with billions of dollars.
“While we welcome sanctions against Museveni, we call up the hypocrisy of the international community. We want them to know that our lives matter as well, that the lives of the hundreds of people who are being killed matter as well. They should not look at gay rights as the only rights in Uganda,” Bobi Wine told journalists on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the Uganda Government has restated its opposition to gay rights despite the decision of the World Bank.
Uganda President Museveni, in a 26-page August 17 statement, said it was a miscalculation for World Bank “to dare think that Ugandans can be intimidated by the threat of withdrawal of loans and aid that are, moreover, peripheral to our transformation efforts.”
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