The State Minister for Trade, Industry and Cooperatives, David Bahati, has reaffirmed the government’s stand on homosexuality and said it will not alter its beliefs, culture, or values to accommodate homosexuality in Uganda.

The Minister made these remarks while responding to the United States decision and announcement of fully disengaging Uganda from the African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA) market.

Bahati said this during a media interview with journalists at Parliament on January 3, 2024, saying the government is determined and is going to defend the institution of family by fighting homosexuality.

He added that the government reaffirms Uganda’s belief that marriage, as understood biblically and culturally, is meant to be between man and woman.

Bahati assured Ugandans that the country would survive without AGOA.

“We are not scared about this market; it is a market that we would have loved to supply; however, if it comes to making a choice over it and homosexuality in our country, then the choice is that we shall fight homosexuality,” Bahati said.

Bahati further noted that there are other alternative markets in Europe, Asia, and Africa that are large enough to consume what is being produced in Uganda.

The United States has officially struck off Uganda and three other African countries as beneficiaries of the AGOA, effectively ending Kampala’s ability to export certain commodities to the US duty-free.

This came after President Yoweri Museveni assented to the anti-gay law passed by the Ugandan lawmakers, which introduced serious repercussions, including life imprisonment or death, for same-sex relations in the country.