America still our great ally, says minister Oryem
US Ambassador Deborah Malac (Left) dances with Mr Hassan Shire, the executive director of the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project, during the US independence celebrations in Nsambya yesterday. PHOTO BY STEPHEN WANDERA
KAMPALA- Despite the recent invectives Washington directed at Kampala over weakened democratic standing, repression of the Opposition and restrictions on media, government says the United States is still a great ally.
State minister for International Affairs Okello Oryem said in an address to guests at America’s 240th Independence anniversary in Kampala on Tuesday: “Just like in normal life, friends disagree many times but continue to remain friends.”
Mr Oryem praised America’s founding fathers for “bringing to the world values”—from the Declaration of Independence: equality, rights, liberty, opportunity, and democracy—that “have shaped the world for the last 200 years. He said these values are the middle ground of friendship between the two countries.
The minister also commended the US’ support to the UPDF under Amisom in the fight against terrorism and to bring about peace in the restive Somalia.
The US does not offer direct budget support to Uganda, but annually spends about $720 million (Shs1.8 trillion) on health, security, agriculture and economic development programmes executed by non-government implementing partners, making it the biggest bilateral partner.
At a reception on Tuesday, Ms Deborah Malac, notwithstanding the ideals of America’s founding fathers, said it remains not a perfect society but they strive to make it better every day.
“The ideals of justice, freedom, security, prosperity, pluralism and accountable government continue to drive us today, whether improving upon American democracy at home or engaging with our friends abroad.”
She added: “That’s why we believe people around the world should have those same opportunities to create the lives and futures they want and deserve for themselves. And that is why we advocate for everyone to have a say in how they are governed, and to have opportunities to change, to grow and to challenge the status quo to create a better system and society for themselves. I can state confidently that for all difficulties, our bold experiment in democracy has been and will be a success.”
Uganda is considered America’s strongest ally, particularly on regional security and the fight against extremism.
Background
In the aftermath of the February presidential elections, Washington and Kampala exchanged severely what the US described as the poorly organised elections that weakened Uganda’s standing on democracy and tarnished the country’s image. The Obama administration slammed the election as “deeply inconsistent with international standards and expectations for any democratic process” based on findings of international election observers.
In a March address to the UN Security Council, the US Permanent Representative to the UN Samantha Power citing the government’s continued crackdown of the Opposition leaders and supporters following discontentment over polls results described President Museveni as a “risk” to Uganda’s future stability.
Kampala on the other hand accused the US and European governments for having been behind forces that wanted to change the government forcefully, which efforts failed. At President Museveni’s swearing-in the US ambassador Deborah Malac and other Western envoys walked out of venue after the President made disparaging remarks against the International Criminal Court (ICC).
