In the polls, Mr. Trump faces Ms. Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party (DP) candidate and current vice president.

Mr. Trump, who won the 2016 election after beating DP’s Hillary Clinton, was defeated in 2020 by DP’s Joe Biden who ended his re-election bid midway after intense pressure following his poor performance in a presidential debate against Mr. Trump to concede. to his deputy Harris.

But as Americans choose between Mr. Trump and Ms. Harris, experts on anti-corruption and governance in Uganda fear Mr. Trump is ignoring the war on corruption.

They also fear that Mr. Trump could roll back the Global Magnitsky Act, as he did when he won the presidency in 2016.

Ms. Sarah Birete, Executive Director of the Center for Constitutional Governance, said past experiences have shown that Republican Party leaders do not care deeply about global accountability and human rights, unlike their Republican Party counterparts. Democrat.

“If Kamala Harris wins, there will be a growing push for democracy, human rights and the fight against corruption, including under the Global Magnitsky Act. If Trump wins, this act will be relegated to the background as it did during his first presidency,” she said.

The official website of the US Department of State indicates that the Global Magnitsky Act of 2016, as part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), 2017, authorized the US government to sanction foreign government officials in around the world who violate human rights and freeze their assets. , and ban them from entering the United States

Sanctions primarily target systemic corruption and human rights violations, including networks that engage in, facilitate, or perpetuate sustained patterns of such illicit behavior.

Under Mr. Biden and his Vice President Harris, some Ugandan officials have been sanctioned under this law.

On May 30, the Speaker of Parliament, Ms. Anita Among, along with seven other officials were barred from entering the United States of America for “significant corruption and gross violations” of human rights.

Other officials included Mrs. Among’s husband, Moses Magogo; the Minister of State for Finance, Amos Lugoloobi; Mary Goretti Kitutu, former Minister of Karamoja Affairs; former Minister of State for Karamoja Affairs, Agnes Nandutu; and former Deputy Chief of Defense Force, Major General Peter Elwelu.

The US State Department also sanctioned Ms Kitutu’s husband, Michael George Kitutu; and Lugoloobi’s wife, Evelyne Nakimera. Magogo, Kitutu and Nakimera were sanctioned due to the alleged actions of their spouses.

“Speaker of Parliament, Anita Among, was designated due to her involvement in significant corruption linked to her leadership of the Ugandan Parliament,” ministry spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a May 30 statement.

Four months after these sanctions, the United States again imposed a travel ban on four Uganda Police Force (UPF) officers due to allegations of gross human rights violations, including torture and punishment and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

They were Bob Kagarura, former Wamala regional police commander, and Alex Mwine, former Mityana district police commander, Elly Womanya, who at the time of the alleged human rights violations was a senior superintendent and Deputy Director of the Criminal Investigation Division of the UPF, in charge of the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), and Hamdani Twesigye, formerly Assistant Police Inspector assigned to the SIU.

Activists said yesterday that such actions may not happen under Trump’s rule as he focuses primarily on US domestic affairs.

“I expect to see more accountability-related sanctions against Uganda whether Trump or Kamala Harris wins. If Harris wins, it will be a continuation of the Biden administration; With Trump, he has been more introspective, focusing primarily on America and its retreat from the world stage. So if you want to see continuation of sanctions, Kamala must make her decision,” said Mr Marlon Agaba, Executive Director of the Anti-Corruption Coalition of Uganda (ACCU).

He added: “These decisions are always made by the technical branch, the civil servants of the US government, because even before Biden we saw sanctions on human rights and we saw the same thing in his government and we we expect to see more accountability. I don’t see anything changing with this election.”

Under the Trump era, Uganda experienced some sanctions when the US Treasury Department indicted former Inspector General of Police, General Kale Kayihura, on September 13, 2019, for involvement in illegal activities. corruption and human rights violations.

Activists, by and large, say the Democratic Party administration is tougher than Republicans on foreign corruption.

How the electoral college works

The electoral college is the process by which Americans elect their president and vice president indirectly through the electors of their state. Candidates must obtain 270 electoral votes, a majority of the 538 at stake, to win the White House. Before the general election, states select slates of electors.

After electors cast their ballots in November, the candidate who wins the popular vote determines which slate of electors – Republicans, Democrats or third parties – will vote in the Electoral College for president. In most states, it’s winner-take-all: whoever gets the most votes in the state wins all of their electoral votes. In Maine and Nebraska, the rules are slightly different.

They have a system of proportional representation in which the winner of each congressional district receives one electoral vote, and the winner of the statewide vote receives each state’s remaining two electoral votes. Electors meet in their respective states in mid-December to vote for president. The meeting takes place on the first Tuesday after the second Wednesday in December, which this year falls on December 17. Each state is assigned electors based on the size of its congressional delegation.

Several less populous states – Alaska, Delaware, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming – each have three electors, since they have one representative in the House and two senators, while the California, the largest, has 54 electoral votes. Washington, D.C., is also assigned three electors.

In the rare event that there is a tie in the Electoral College – which in the modern era would mean each candidate wins 269 electoral votes – members of the newly elected House of Representatives would decide the outcome of the presidential election , while the Senate would select the candidate. vice-president.