Uganda is not a “threshold partner” of the U.S. government’s Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and that status is unlikely to change if the government’s human rights record towards gays does not improve. At stake for Uganda is the potential for infrastructure grants in the 100s of millions of dollars.
[A]n anti-gay law being tabled in Uganda is likely to hamper the east African country’s progress from ‘threshold’ partner with the U.S. government’s Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) aid arm to fully-fledged grant-receiver.
Last month, U.S. President Barack Obama described the Ugandan bill, which could mean the death penalty for some homosexuals, as “odious”, and MCC officials said they were watching its progress carefully.
“How a government deals with its human rights situation is definitely an indicator that we think is important,” said Cassandra Butts, senior adviser to the MCC’s chief executive.
“That will be something we will review and we will make a determination of our continued investment in Uganda,” she told reporters at an investment conference in South Africa.
H/T to Box Turtle Bulletin which has more.