Funny how this far in the presidential campaigns for the 2026 election, the issue of United States of America (US) Foreign Policy for Africa has not come up.
Has it got due public attention by the candidates and civically active citizens?
Can you believe that President Museveni reportedly “rejected a 450 million US dollar tech package to modernize our country’s digital infrastructure!”
About 1.6 trillion Uganda shillings is what he rejected.
I first happened on it in a video posted on Instagram on 28th September 2025 by Gaius Harriet Konyen.
In that video it is said ebe, reportedly, President Museveni rejected the million dollar tech package because it came with unpalatable strings attached, including but not limited to:
US firms, like Palantir and Raytheon, take control of Uganda’s National data centers for 15 years.
Allowing them and the President Trump Administration to gain unrestricted access to Uganda’s mobile and internet data.
A demand for the removal of Hauwei and ZTE providers, who currently control over 65% of Uganda’s telecom backbone.
At first, even me I did not believe what I was hearing and reading. And so, I searched online for confirmation.
I found other online publications (a Black Culture Diary video, an article by Atitso Akpalu of Ghana and another by Gidado Abdulkarim of Nigeria) on “13 African countries reject Trump’s offer.”
President Museveni is not the only African President who rejected billions of dollars in ‘aid’ because of the strings attached to it by President Trump’s Administration.
In addition to Uganda, the other 12 countries which reportedly rejected US ‘aid’ are:
- South Africa
- Ghana
- Nigeria
- Kenya
- Tanzania
- Ethiopia
- Zimbabwe
- Namibia
- Democratic Republic of Congo
- Sudan
- Burkina Faso
- Mali
President Yoweri Kagutta T. Museveni
While rejecting the offer, President Museveni is reported as having publicly uttered statements that revealed the following sentiments:
“Our sovereignty is not negotiable, not for cables, not for code. Our nation was never colonized by code and it will never be. Uganda’s future will not be downloaded from someone else’s server. African’s digital freedom is no longer optional, it is essential.”
“Uganda’s digital economy was worth 2.3 billion US dollars in 2024 and is projected to double in 2030,” it is reported.
And so, President Museveni was apparently not about to hand it over faaa to President Trump’s Administration and US tech billionaires.
In genuine democracies, the views of presidential candidates on how they will handle relations with other countries, especially the so-called ‘developed countries’ matters.
Will they protect the interests of Uganda and Ugandans or will they compromise our interests for those of a foreign power?
May be the Uganda print media reported it, but I did not find any links to it online, as reported by Ugandans and or Ugandan publications.
This is when we, the undecided voters, wish for a presidential debate.
Let’s Chat…