Is The World Bank An Instrument Of Neocolonialism As It Punishes Uganda For Anti-Gay Law? -By Isaac Asabor

There is no denying the fact that since the World Bank recently halted fresh assistance for Uganda, citing the country’s anti-homosexuality bill, which was passed earlier this year, as the rationale for denying her what she is entitled by virtue of being a member of the UN, that the question not a few people are asking is, “Is the World Bank an instrument of neocolonialism as it punishes Uganda for anti-gay law?” The question, no doubt, is expedient as the global bank’s term or condition has always been spiced with elements of neocolonialism. Before rendering assistance to some of its member countries, particularly African countries, more often than not leaves one with the impression that the sub regional body controls or influences its African members especially particularly whenever they depend on its rich resources.

In fact, to buttress the foregoing view, it is expedient to contextually make reference to Jason Hickel’s article titled “Apartheid in the World Bank and the IMF” as published in the online edition of Aljazeera of November 26, 2020.

Hickel, who is a professor at the Institute for Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA-UAB) and Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts partly wrote in the article thus, “Nowhere is this problem more apparent than when it comes to the distribution of power in the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), two of the key institutions that govern global economic policy. We might expect that representation in these institutions would be modelled along the lines of the United Nations General Assembly, or perhaps calculated according to population. But in reality, they are deeply undemocratic.

“The problem starts at the top. The leaders of the World Bank and the IMF are not elected, but are nominated by the US and Europe. According to an unspoken agreement, the president of the World Bank has always been from the US, while the president of the IMF has always been European.

“Moreover, voting power in these institutions is skewed heavily in favour of rich countries. The US has de facto veto power over all significant decisions, and together with the rest of the G7 and the European Union controls well over half of the vote in both agencies. Middle- and low-income countries, which together constitute 85 percent of the world’s population, have a minority share”.

The question, which is invariably the headline of this piece, cannot be said to be a misnomer as the World Bank is an international organization affiliated with the United Nations (UN), and by that automatically subscribed to all members of the UN. It is designed to finance projects that enhance the economic development of member states. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the bank is the largest source of financial assistance to developing countries. It also provides technical assistance and policy advice and supervise, on behalf of international creditors, the implementation of free-market reforms.

Together with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Trade Organization (WTO), it plays a central role in overseeing economic policy and reforming public institutions in developing countries and defining the global macroeconomic agenda.

As also gathered in a statement issued on Tuesday, August 8, 2023, the global finance group found that the East African country’s anti-LGBTQ law, which punishes “aggravated homosexuality” a death charge and imposes penalties of up to life in prison for consenting same-sex relationships, breaches its values.

The bank in a statement said, “We believe that our vision of ending poverty on a livable planet can only succeed if it includes everyone, regardless of race, gender, or sexual orientation.” This legislation hinders those efforts. “Inclusion and non-discrimination are central to our work around the world.”

For the same of clarity, it is expedient to throw insight into what neocolonialism is all about from the perspective of Encyclopedia Britannica, an online knowledge-based website. It stated that Neocolonialism “Is the control of less-developed countries by developed countries through indirect means”, and further explained that the term was first used after World War II to refer to the continuing dependence of former colonies on foreign countries, saying that its meaning soon broadened to apply, more generally, to places where the power of developed countries was used to produce a colonial-like exploitation.

It added that the term is now an unambiguously negative one that is widely used to refer to a form of global power in which transnational corporations and global and multilateral institutions combine to perpetuate colonial forms of exploitation of developing countries. It explains that neocolonialism has been broadly understood as a further development of capitalism that enables capitalist powers (both nations and corporations) to dominate subject nations through the operations of international capitalism rather than by means of direct rule.

As gathered through google search device, the decision follows rising calls for sanctions against Kampala by human rights groups and campaigners following the enactment of the Anti-Homosexuality Act of 2023 in May, which they claim “legalizes homophobia and transphobia.”

Several members of the United States Congress wrote to World Bank President Ajay Banga late last month, urging that the bank cease all loans to Uganda in order to persuade the government to remove anti-gay legislation. Previously, a coalition of 170 civil organizations urged that Banga respond to Uganda’s “abhorrent” law.

According to the group, a World Bank team went to Kampala “immediately” after the law was approved and found that further procedures were needed to guarantee project implementation fit with the bank’s environmental and social requirements.
“No new public financing for Uganda will be presented to our Board of Executive Directors until the efficacy of the additional measures has been tested,” the organization stated.

The World Bank’s portfolio of International Development Association funding for Uganda totaled $5.4 billion by the end of 2022, according to the agency.

Okello Oryem, Uganda’s state minister for international affairs, accused the bank of duplicity, stating it had been “put under pressure by the usual imperialists.”

“Numerous Middle Eastern countries do not allow homosexuals; gays are actually hanged and executed; in the United States of America, numerous states have established laws that are either against or prohibit homosexual activity… So why choose Uganda?” According to Reuters, Oryem.