‘Western powers disrespect our African culture and norms because we are poor’, says Deputy Speaker Tayebwa

The Deputy Speaker of Parliament Thomas Tayebwa has asked the European Parliament and other Western countries that have threatened to cut off their donations from Uganda over the new Anti-gay Bill 2023 to stop disrespecting the norms and cultures of poor African countries.

The Ruhinda North County lawmaker expressed his disappointment on Wednesday at Imperial Royale during the launch of an accountability report on Covid-19 money by the School of Makerere University where he said that Western powers are aimed at disrespecting and destroying African heritage.

He noted that because Uganda is a poor country, the Western powers are leveraging to force its leaders to disown their ancestral norms and cultures and then support their (Western powers) desires.

“Human Rights are being somehow redefined internationally in a way that does not take into consideration customs and norms of certain societies. And this is not being done universally. I was in Brussels engaging with the EU parliament and I told them that when Uganda enacts the LGBTQ laws, you say you are going to cut off our budgets and put ban on Visas, you say you cannot count Uganda. But Quarter, Dubai and Saud Arabia have the worst LGBTQ laws and your people are flocking there! I asked them whether the dying in Dubai is different from the dying in Uganda,” he said.

Tayebwa added that he asked the European Parliament why they keep on redefining Human Rights around international committees and regional bodies instead of the United Nations General Assembly. “If they believe that this is the right thing, why don’t we go to the UN General Assembly and redefine Human Rights including LGBTQ and then we know that it universally applies.”

“If you can respect Islam that don’t believe in this, then when we tell that even us under our norms and values, we don’t believe it, please also respect them. Otherwise, we shall know that all this is driven by monetary considerations because the Arabs are rich and you want their money, they can draft any laws but because we are poor, you can back at us when are protecting our society. I saw the EU parliamentary resolution talking about how much money they can cut off, and I said Well and good, I will engage with them. But we believe if we are applying Human Rights as a yardstick, they should be universal and same, not for the poor countries and one for the rich countries,” he said.

Deputy Speaker Tayebwa’s statement come at a time when President Yoweri Museveni has just declined to sign the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, 2023 and sent it back to parliament for “strengthening.”

Currently, President Museveni is under pressure from the international community to veto the bill, which needs his signature to become law. Recently the United States warned of economic consequences if the legislation is enacted. A group of United Nations experts has described the bill, if enacted, as “an egregious violation of human rights”.

Amnesty International in a statement earlier on Thursday had urged Museveni to veto what the group described as a “draconian and overly broad” bill.

However, President Museveni also faces huge pressure from Ugandans because the bill enjoys wide support in Uganda, including among church leaders and others who have called for a harsh new law targeting homosexuals.

The Bill was introduced by Bugiri Municipality lawmaker Asuman Basalirwa who said his goal was to punish the “promotion, recruitment and funding” of LGBTQ activities in the country.