The spirit of darkness and helplessness has clouded the headquarters of the National Unity Platform party, based at Kamwokya in Kampala.
This stemmed from the decision of the United States government to ignore NUP’s repeated advocacies to blacklist Uganda over various claims of maladministration.
NUP’s darkness mode escalated and hopes faded on December 11, 2022, Sunday, when it became clear that US President Joe Biden is still committed to deepening mutual engagements with Uganda.
US President Joe Biden’s commitment is contained in the decision to invite the President of Uganda, H. E. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, to attend and participate in the forthcoming US-Africa summit due this week. On Sunday, December 11, 2022, President Museveni left for the US on the invitation of President Biden to attend the summit.
The US-Africa summit is geared towards uplifting and empowering African institutions through discussions about the challenges in health, democracy, governance, investment, development, climate change, and more.
A source in NUP said the leadership was disturbed by the decision of US President Biden to further engage with Uganda in spite of their spirited campaigns to discredit the administration of President Museveni.
“Our principal’s interest and our team’s interest were to have President Museveni not invited for the summit by the US, but to our dismay, he was invited and has already left Uganda for the US, contrary to Bobi Wine’s narrative, where he claimed the US had sidelined Uganda from the summit,” the source said.
According to the official US statement, participants at the summit will spend three days in Washington discussing how to deepen and expand the long-term U.S.-Africa partnership, advance shared priorities, and amplify African voices to meet these eras’ challenges.
Moses Mugisha, a NUP leader in Makindye Division, wondered how the American administration could still engage with Uganda if the claim by Bobi Wine that the US was fully behind the struggle to cause regime change in Uganda were genuine.
“Museveni is finished; we put pressure on the West, and they now believe and trust us; he will be arrested the moment he steps foot on US soil,” Bobi Wine said a few months ago.
THE US-AFRICA SUMMIT, organized under the theme of “Transforming U.S.-Africa Economic Engagement into a 21st Century Partnership,” aims to use a gathering of 50 African delegations in Washington to uplift and empower African institutions, citizens, and nations through discussions about challenges such as health, democracy, governance, investment, development, climate change, and more, senior administration officials said Thursday.
This year’s summit, which begins Tuesday, will focus on “deepening and expanding the long-term U.S.-Africa partnership and advancing our shared priorities, amplifying African voices to collaboratively meet this era’s defining challenges,” a senior administration official said.
The US is expected to announce “major deliverables and initiatives” over the three-day summit but has declined to give details.
“This is also about jointly defining a global agenda, where there are opportunities for Africans to sit at the table and help us work through some of the most difficult challenges in this consequential decade,“ the official said.
US President Joe Biden will support a permanent spot for the African Union in the Group of 20 major economies, seeking to elevate the continent’s role.
Biden will make the announcement during a three-day US-Africa summit that opens on Tuesday in Washington, DC, where the United States will commit to the continent after inroads by China and Russia.
This summit is really a reflection of the U.S. strategy towards Sub-Saharan Africa and the African Union’s Agenda 2063, both of which emphasize the critical importance of the region in meeting this era’s defining challenges.
