World Bank only cares about gay rights - Bobi

National Unity Platform (NUP) party leader Robert Kyagulanyi, alias Bobi Wine, has accused the World Bank (WB) of selectively championing gays rights and ignoring others. 

On August 8, the WB halted new loans for Uganda’s development projects, following the enactment of the Anti-homosexuality Act, 2023. 

The move will affect projects worth $1.8 billion (about Shs6.7 trillion).

But, Mr Kyagulanyi has criticised the move saying the same sanctions should be slapped on Mr Museveni’s government because of other human rights violations.

“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 the World Bank is only holding back loans over the Anti-homosexuality law,” he said.

He made the remarks while addressing journalists at the NUP party headquarters in Kampala yesterday.

Mr Kyagulanyi welcomed the WB decision, but accused the global lender of taking actions in a discriminatory manner “as if it [homosexuality] is the only issue in Uganda.”

“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 [only] look at gay rights as the only rights in Uganda,” Mr Kyagulanyi added.

President Museveni and other Ugandan leaders, such as the Speaker of Parliament, have since stood their ground despite the global lending agency’s decision.

Mr Museveni in a 26-page August 17 statement said it was a miscalculation for WB “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”.

But Mr Kyagulanyi wondered what the WB would do if Uganda repeals the law.
“Does that mean that when he [Museveni] repeals that law, you will continue to give him money when he massacres Ugandans? So we continue to say to the international community once again that all human rights are human rights and you should not be selective in the application of human rights,” he said.

The WB, he said, should stop paying a deaf ear to the cries of people tortured in Uganda. 
He accused the international community of continuously supporting the government of Mr Museveni, which he accused of human rights violations.

“So, we put it to 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 and during the 2021 general elections campaigns, but all these lives did not matter because the World Bank and IMF continued to shower Mr Museveni’s regime with billions of dollars,” the NUP leader said.

Meanwhile, the party secretary general, Mr Lewis Rubongoya, urged the government to speed up the court process of the jailed party members to ensure they are granted justice.