Unease at NUP after Donald Trump’s election

Donald Trump’s walkover victory against Kamala Harris in last week’s United States of America (US) presidential elections sent shock waves with Uganda’s leading opposition party, the National Unity Platform (NUP).

Being a direct beneficiary of funding from US-based gay lobby groups, the NUP worked for the Democratic candidate, Kamala, who lost to Trump with a margin of over 4 million votes in the popular vote. In the electoral college vote, she garnered 226 votes against Trump’s 312.

Several NUP gay-activists living in the US who had signed-up as volunteers for the Democrats were, according to sources, left crestfallen after the declaration of Trump as the elected 47th US president.

Locally at the NUP headquarters at Kavule near Kampala, top party executives discussed the results and how they are likely to impact on the party’s finances.

“When your example look at the congratulatory message Bobi Wine wrote for Trump, it was belated and sounded uninspired,” a source close to the NUP headquarters said.

On the campaign trail, Trump promised to path through Congress, a legislation that established that the only genders recognised by the US government are male and female which are assigned at birth.

“On day one, I will sign a new executive order instructing every federal agency to cease all programs that promote the concept of sex and gender transition at any stage,” Trump said.

If implemented, it will cripple the activities of various LGBTQ+ organisations that the NUP has been relying on for funding.

“They (NUP) have decided to focus on funding from LGBTQ+ groups in Europe, especially the UK, Netherlands and Germany,” the source said.