While Kenyans have been celebrating the victory of Barack Obama in last week’s US presidential elections, Uganda is less clear about the benefits of having a US president who is a Democrat. The presidency of George Bush has been helpful to the cause of Ugandan president Museveni, and Uganda has been a major beneficiary of the $15 billion Presidential Emergency Fund for AIDS Relief.
The US Republican party has been favourably disposed towards Uganda because Uganda has been an ally in the war on terror, and Uganda has provided military co-operation in southern Sudan and Somalia. Whilst Ugandans are excited about Obama’s historic elections, not everyone is sure that their relationship with the new US government will continue to be quite as warm as it has been in recent years.
There is some speculation that the foreign aid policies of the new US government will place a greater priority on democracy, anti-corruption efforts and human rights, and less of an emphasis on faith-based approaches to AIDS funding, a hard-line approach to terrorism, fundamentalist free market policies, and support for the interests of big business such as the interests of US pharmaceutical companies against generic drug manufacturers.