{UAH} Uganda : The curious case of a prime minister, president, oil and gay rights - Opinion - nation.co.ke
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Uganda : The curious case of a prime minister, president, oil and gay rights - Opinion
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Ordinarily, you would not think of any way in which oil and gay rights mix. But, they do — in Uganda at least.
Now over the last one month, Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni has done two things that have attracted a lot of headlines. First, on September 19, he sacked Amama Mbabazi as prime minister.
Mbabazi, for now, retains his position as Secretary-General of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM).
Mbabazi and Museveni got back nearly 40 years, and were as thick as thieves. His "crime" seems to be that he suddenly had the glint of presidential ambition in his eyes. Some would argue he was right to eye the big seat, considering that Museveni has been in it for nearly 30 years.
Then, last week, Museveni signalled he was having second thoughts over tough anti-homosexuality legislation that social conservatives in his ruling party are trying to bring back to Parliament after the constitutional court struck the earlier one down.
Museveni argued that Uganda needed to consider the impact of a new law on trade and economic growth.
In a newspaper opinion piece, he said that although Uganda could endure aid cuts (not true), it would be badly hit by a trade boycott.
"It is about us deciding what is best for our country in the realm of foreign trade, which is such an important stimulus for growth and transformation that it has no equal," he said, raising fears over "the possibility of trade boycott by Western companies under the pressure of the homosexual lobbies in the West."
Last month during a visit to the US, Museveni faced humiliation twice when two hotels couldn't accommodate him or host his events.
"My people made hotel bookings for me, but [American] homosexuals blocked it," a statement from his office read.
When the debate over the infamous "anti-gay" Bill became hysterical in Uganda at the end of 2013 into early 2014, the most senior voice of reason was Mbabazi.
Breaking ranks with the flame-throwers in his party, he said matters of sex — gay, bi-sexual, heterosexual — are private matters, and the government should not stick its nose in them if they happen between consenting adults in the privacy of their homes.
US President Barack Obama jumped into the debate, as did other (mostly) Western officials and civil society activists. Aid to Uganda was cut, and some international businesses, fearful of a backlash back home from their rich gay clients, started putting brakes on their activities in Uganda.
The effect of all this internationally is that, at least in the West, for the first time, there was someone a heartbeat away from Museveni who seemed more socially "progressive" than the Big Man. That man was Mbabazi. Museveni, who plays international politics quite adeptly, was now strategically bettered by Mbabazi.
And that is where oil comes in. You might have noticed that the whistles and bells about Uganda's rich oil finds have gone almost silent.
The oil is there, alright. Exploration companies like Tullow have done their thing. The oil wells have been dug, and they are now capped. The areas around them are growing tall grass, and the guards at the sites are being killed by boredom.
Tullow had several offices in Uganda and had hired hundreds of staff. They now have one office with about 50 staff. A Kampala company that was transporting staff in the oil fields has 80 per cent of its fleet idle.
The biggest problem, and Kenya too will find out soon enough, is that to do oil, you need to build those railway lines and pipelines to get it out. Uganda is in the Stone Age in terms of that critical oil infrastructure.
The technology, the smarts to do it, the ability to negotiate people off their land for buildings, and to get money into them, needs access to sophisticated money and knowledge markets. China can just only help, in this regard.
Some of these markets are touchy about openly homophobic regimes. You could say then that in the eyes of global capital, Mbabazi was the best politician for Ugandan oil commercialisation. Museveni needed to soften his image on the gay issue. However, Mbabazi was in that middle ground. What to do but kick him off the spot and occupy it.
That is only a very small part of the story, and an over-simplification, yes, but we will stay with it for now.
Mr Onyango-Obbo is editor of Mail & Guardian Africa (mgafrica.com). Twitter:@cobbo3
http://www.nation.co.ke/oped/Opinion/-/440808/2479464/-/4rdmmaz/-/index.html
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