The government of Uganda responded to a hate post targeting New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, who was born in Uganda. Republican Rep Andy Ogles posted a photo and said New York will look like the photo from Uganda after Zohran Mamdani will ‘destroy it’. He also called for Mamdani’s deportation hours before he won the high-stakes NYC mayoral poll. “Uganda was looted by corrupt socialist governments that crushed the economy and rigged the system. Mamdani wants to bring those same policies to New York. DEPORT HIM NOW!” Ogles posted.“Uganda is a beautiful, resilient, and fast-growing nation, home to innovation, culture, and opportunity. We encourage respectful dialogue and discourage the use of misinformation or stereotypes to demean nations or their people,” the government of Uganda posted on X.Ogles had been leading the campaign calling for Mamdani’s deportation, demanding an investigation into Mamdani’s naturalization documents. Ogles claimed that Mamdani did not disclose in 2018 that he was joining a communist organization as that would have disqualified him from becoming a US citizen.
Mamdani’s ties with Uganda
Mamdani was born and briefly raised in Uganda and retained his citizenship even after becoming a naturalized US citizen in 2018. The family has a residence in Kampala where they visit regularly. And the latest visit was earlier this year for Mamdani’s wedding. Commenting on Mamdani’s win, an opposition leader in Kampala told The Independent that it is a big encouragement even in Uganda. “It’s a big encouragement even to us here in Uganda that it’s possible. But we have a long way to get there,” Joel Ssenyonyi, an opposition leader representing a Kampala constituency, said. Mamdani’s father was a senior academic at Makerere University in the Ugandan capital Kampala. “Seeing Zohran up there, I feel like I can also make it,” Anthony Kirabo, a psychology student at the university, said to the AFP. But many had never heard of Mamdani or the fact that a Ugandan had become the youngest mayor of New York in more than a century, the AFP report said.
