Mayoral front-runner Zohran Mamdani claimed he didn’t know that the anti-gay Ugandan politician he posed with in a notorious pic — but records show his dad knew the official for years.
Mamdani had characterized a photo of him and Ugandan Deputy Prime Minister Rebecca Kadaga as an impromptu airport run-in at an airport in the African nation after backlash to him flashing a smile with the official who pushed some of the most oppressive anti-LGBT laws in the world.
But Mamdani’s father, Columbia University professor Mahmood Mamdani, had been named in a 2019 lawsuit that Kadaga oversaw when she was speaker of the Ugandan parliament. Several academics at Makerere University had sued several people including Mahmood Mamdani — who was then also the executive director at the Makerere Institute of Social Research — for wrongful termination.
Reports from various Ugandan outlets on the connection were shared in an X post by former independent candidate for mayor Jim Walden.
The reports also suggest that Kadaga and Mahmood Mamdani go as far back as 2011, with the Ivy League academic even praising Kadaga in an article, saying he “saluted” her handling of debates in the oil sector when she was a member of parliament.
The unlikely duo were both keynote speakers at a legislative assembly symposium earlier that same year.
Photos of Zohran Mamdani, his father and Kadaga — shared by The Post in a previous report — sparked outrage among local pols and gay rights activists. Though Mamdani claimed he was “unaware” the pol was the architect of the harsh anti-gay policies in Uganda was when he agreed to pose for the shot.
“Here with Zohran Mamdhani and Prof Mamdhani as Zohran returns to New York after his traditional wedding in Kampala,” Kadaga gushed in the photo posted to X.
The photo was taken over summer in Uganda as the younger Mamdani celebrated his recent marriage at a family compound in the country.
Zohran Mamdani was on break from the campaign trail after winning a June Democratic Party primary, in which beat former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and a slew of other Democrats in a ranked-choice election. Cuomo is now running as an independent against Mamdani to replace current Mayor Eric Adams, who dropped out of the election last month and will leave office at the end of the year.
Dora Pekec a spokesperson for Zohran Mamdani, dodged questions about Mahmood Mamdani’s relationship to Kadaga — but attributed Walden’s X post to Cuomo.
“Zohran has repeatedly said that he’s outraged by the anti-LBGTQ policies of the Ugandan government and, unlike Andrew Cuomo, he has a policy platform to actually support and protect LGBTQ New Yorkers right here in our city,” Pekec said.
“This is just another sad and desperate distraction by a campaign that’s running out of time and long ago ran out of ideas,” she said.
Cuomo blasted the proud socialist at a press conference on Monday over the photos and his dual citizenship with Uganda, where he was born.
“Why would you keep a citizen in Uganda, which is a country that outlaws the LGBTQ community? Why?” Cuomo asked.
Read the full article here
