On Saturday (16 January) Museveni was once again declared the winner of the presidential election with 58.64 percent of the vote. He has ruled over Uganda since 1986. His main opposition, the former pop star Bobi Wine, was dogged by rumours of homosexuality and funding from “homosexual groups” after Museveni painted him as “an agent of foreign interests” who promoted LGBT+ rights. “He gets quite a lot of encouragement from foreigners and homosexuals,” Museveni was reported saying in an interview days before the election. “Homosexuals are very happy with Bobi Wine. I think they even send him support.” Homosexuality became a hot-button issue in the east African country as Museveni continued ramping up the homophobic rhetoric, describing gay people as “deviants” and blaming the deadly political protests on groups funded by foreign LGBT+ rights organisations. “Now, we have a problem of social imperialism from some parts of the world towards Africa,” the 76-year-old told CNN‘s Christine Amanpour. “Homosexuals are not new to Africa. They have been here. We know them. But we have got a different view of them. We think they are deviants. They are people who are deviated from the normal. “They are not killed, they are not harangued, they are not persecuted, but we don’t promote them… We don’t promote and flaunt homosexuality as if it is an alternative way of life.”