Ugandans fear anti-gay sanctions could threaten R&D funding

Last week’s article claiming that economic sanctions against Uganda’s anti-gay legislation do not threaten research in the country has drawn mixed responses from academics, some of whom worry about long-term funding.

Commenting on the story, James Odongo from Makerere University said that although sanctions apply only to money that goes straight to government, it could affect R&D over a longer time-frame as the Ugandan government is a funding source for research in the country. 

He says that the sanctions will hit government support for industrial R&D, which will reduce private funding for research. And the sanctions will cripple the government’s capacity to fund R&D by diverting funds to other high-priority policy areas, he adds.