Uganda’s President Calls Africans a “Disgrace”?

At this year’s World Health Summit’s Regional Meeting, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni made some interesting remarks.

President Museveni called the COVID-19 vaccine selfishness from around the world a wake-up call for Africans. He argued that countries across the continent need to stop waiting for vaccine donations from developed countries and start manufacturing them locally. All Africa needs is raw materials to produce its own vaccines and not donations.

What really set viewers off, however, was President Museveni labeling Africans a disgrace.

“Africans are a disgrace to ourselves. Why do we have to depend on the outside for everything? This is a big shame for Africa.”
“This selfishness in the world is bad but is good. I like it because it wakes up Africans. It a shame the whole of the African continent is just asleep, waiting to be saved by others as it happened during the slave trade.”

President Museveni stated that Uganda is in the process of creating its own COVID-19 vaccine and only needs help with raw materials.

Now, I’m all for African leadership calling out the mishaps of the continent’s politics; Rwandan President Paul Kagame currently holds the crown. But when those leaders turn that criticism towards the behavior of their citizens, who in many ways are reliant on them, that’s when I push back.

President Museveni’s comments, in my objective opinion, were valid but loosely irresponsible. African leaders globally have dropped the ball when it comes to the protection and self-sufficiency of Africans. Exploitation for profit, backward trade deals, and anti-Pan Africanist sentiments are just a few of the problems that fall on the shoulders of our leadership. So most of the criticism needs to be directed towards those at the helm of these nations because you all are the first point-of-contact, not the citizens.