Before leaving Uganda, I had arranged to interview its president, Yoweri Museveni, at the State House, his official residence, in Entebbe.
I wanted to ask him about three issues I felt had the potential to discourage tourists from visiting Uganda: oil drilling in game parks; the perception that war criminal Joseph Kony was still operating in the country; and legislation, instigated with the support of a small group of American evangelicals, that would mandate life in prison for Ugandans convicted of "homosexuality," or the death penalty for "aggravated homosexuality," defined as having sex if HIV-positive or with a minor.
Western governments have warned that if such legislation were passed, it would endanger foreign aid, and the fact that such legislation has even surfaced has tarnished Uganda's image.
Regarding the drilling of oil, the president said, "The crucial thing would be to stop spillage. ... If there is no spillage, there is really no problem."
He also said that the 58 working wells in Uganda are "scattered" and that each well is not very large.
He added that assessments are made by the National Environmental Authority, "and [oil companies] only do what is permitted by the authority."
I asked the president if he had seen "Kony 2012," a video about Joseph Kony, leader of the Lord's Resistance Army, which terrorized residents of northern Uganda for decades.
Although the video, viewed more than 90 million times on YouTube, does state toward the end that Kony is no longer in Uganda, most of the video focuses on his deeds when he was in the country and leaves a negative impression of Uganda.
The president said he had not seen the video. "I know the story [better] than the video," he said.
Kony is "1,000 miles from our border ...and he will never come back," Museveni said. He added that Uganda troops are involved in "hunting the remnants" of his followers. "They are not a threat to us."
Regarding the anti-gay legislation, Museveni alternately showed annoyance with Western judgments on African traditions and issued reassurances that such legislation will not become law, even if passed by the legislature.
"There's a problem, because it seems some people in the West think that everybody's ignorant except themselves," he said. "For legislation to pass into law, I must sign it."
He said he believes there should be "no persecution, no discrimination, no killing" of gay people.
Museveni noted that some prominent chiefs in the country's history were gay.
"They were known, but they were not persecuted," he said. "They were not killed. They were not discriminated against." And, the president pointedly noted, they did not talk about their homosexuality.
What happens in private, regardless of sexual orientation, is private, he said, but Western critics should respect that in Uganda, any public display of affection, gay or straight, would be offensive.
He is 67 years old, he said, and "I have never kissed my wife in public. Now, what are we to do about this? Will somebody come and say [I] must kiss in public? That's not our culture. Because in our culture, anything to do with love is private, away from children, away from other people. Bilateral, between two people. "
Museveni said he did feel it should be illegal to induce children into sexual activity, whether homosexual or heterosexual. "That's the only possibility [for harsh punishment] we could be talking about," he said.
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