Uganda is staring at a crisis after several leading American companies under the Africa Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA) stopped buying textiles from the country, according to President Yoweri Museveni.
President Joe Biden’s administration made the move in protest of Uganda’s enactment of the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023.
During a pass-out ceremony of Uganda Prisons Service officers at Kololo Ceremonial Grounds, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni stated that the country was already feeling the heat from the West.
“The homosexuals in the US are interfering with our export of textiles. Some of the orders have been cancelled there,” Museveni said.
“But I am not concerned about that because the money you have been squandering with the second-hand clothes, importing other people’s fabrics, is much more than what we are going to earn from the sales to the US,” he added.
Also Read: Museveni Defends Signing Anti-LGBTQ Bill
President Museveni had earlier mentioned his push to completely ban what he called “dead people’s clothes” from being imported to the country.
Museveni made the announcement shortly after commissioning 16 new factories in the Sino-Uganda Mbale Industrial Park in early August 2023.
He noted the Uganda was now able to manufacture enough clothes from the factories in the country.
“I told you before, that those secondhand clothes are for dead people from abroad,” Museveni said.
The Africa Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA) is an initiative of the US government which began in 2000 where eligible countries, including Uganda, export textiles and agricultural products to America tariff and quota-free.
In return, the beneficiary countries open their markets to second-hand clothes mainly from the US.
However, US firms see the Anti-LQBTQ law as a violation of human rights.
Museveni okayed Anti-LGBTQ Law
President Yoweri Museveni signed the Anti-Homosexuality Bill into law after parliament watered it down.
Also Read: Win for LGBTQ as Supreme Court Determines Kaluma Petition
The Ugandan law is among the harshest anti-LGBTQ laws in the world.
Anyone convicted would face life imprisonment in Uganda because homosexual acts are already illegal.
Further, the legislation imposes the death penalty for cases, such as having gay sex with someone below the age of 18.
The US President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief, UN Aids and the Global Fund said they were deeply concerned about the “harmful impact” of the legislation in a joint statement.
In August, World Bank announced that it would stop funding to Uganda over its gay laws. However, in a quick rejoinder, Museveni told off the lender saying the East African economy can do without loans.
