UK sucked into Uganda’s anti-graft battle: Will it help when Uganda has failed? 

For many Ugandans who keep track of current affairs and read stories about corruption in their country, the alleged theft by Cabinet ministers of iron sheets belonging to the people of Karamoja, arguably the country’s most vulnerable, was not big news.

They have seen worse. A multi-billion shilling hospital being constructed in Lubowa near Kampala has already stalled because no one is ready to explain how money is being spent and whether it is actually spent on the project. In February, Opposition MPs tried to visit the construction site to see the progress made, and they were denied access by the police. 

A parliamentary committee that investigated Uganda Airlines, the national carrier, and unearthed corruption and abuse of office compiled a report and recommended actions to be taken. That report is lying somewhere gathering dust. It has been ignored. 

So, when, on April 30, the UK government announced that it had imposed sanctions on former ministers Mary Gorreti Kitutu and Agnes Nandutu for allegedly stealing the iron sheets — and the Speaker of Parliament, Anita Among, for allegedly benefiting from the theft, Ugandans were both surprised and pleased. 

Their surprise was because the UK had not acted in the past when it had to; the pleasure was because the government has signally failed to rein in corruption. (A viral video clip on social media has President Museveni telling the head of the Inspectorate of Government to go slow on corrupt Ugandan officials because they can invest embezzled money overseas.) 

In the press release announcing the punitive measures, the UK said it was using the Global Anti-Corruption Sanctions regime and that the three individuals would be subject to travel bans and asset freezes. 

Unanswered questions 
While this unprecedented move exposes weaknesses in Uganda’s domestic anti-corruption efforts and is largely welcome by the locals, it raises pertinent questions. 

First, can these sanctions deter future corruption? Ms Among has since said she does not even own a pussycat in the UK. All her assets are reportedly secured in Uganda where she still enjoys support from President Museveni and the people of Bukedea, her constituency. 

Second, why was Ms Among sanctioned when her case file, along with 16 others that had been forwarded by the police to the Director of Public Prosecutions, was closed in January 2023? 

At a press briefing where (Director of Public Prosecutions) DPP Jane Frances Abodo closed the files, she said: “Seventeen case files have been closed and put away due to insufficiency of evidence.” 

She added: “In considering the blameworthiness of the suspects, a number of factors were taken into account, including the circumstances under which the iron sheets were received, the manner of use of iron sheets upon receipt, and refunds made in kind and cash.” 

Ms Among says the sanctions were triggered by her role in enacting the Anti-Homosexuality Act, condemned by the UK government, which also had imposed a travel ban on National Unity Platform leader Robert Kyagulanyi, aka Bobi Wine, for nine years over his song denigrating gay people. The UK government lifted the ban in November 2023. 

But the British High Commission in Kampala said the sanctions have nothing to do with domestic legislation. 

“They have been imposed in response to serious corruption - including the theft of relief materials that were intended for some of Uganda’s poorest communities in the Karamoja region. The Speaker has also been implicated in other instances of corruption,” an email to this writer read.

Mr Odonga Otto, a former MP who represented Aruu County in Pader District for 20 years and has been critical of corruption in Parliament, said “iron sheets are not the problem”. 

He said a Speaker who earns Shs50m a month would find it hard to steal iron sheets costing Shs7m. 

“Iron sheets have given them a reason to act. Amos Lugoloobi roofed his cattle shed with the iron roofs but was not sanctioned,” Mr Otto said, referring to the junior Finance minister who was named in the scandal and was even remanded in Luzira Prison. 

Saying Uganda is a sovereign country and that it is unfair for a foreign country that colonised Uganda to meddle in its internal affairs, Mr Otto rejected the sanctions. 

But he admitted that the fight against corruption was not effective. 

“Our DPP, IGG, AG [Auditor General] have failed to work. The current government has not allowed them to grow. So we are now feeling the pain,” he said. 

Ineffectual anti-corruption bodies 
The government has not commented on the sanctions. Although it runs a host of agencies — the Inspectorate of Government, the Auditor General’s Office, the Anti-Corruption Court and the Public Accounts Committee — all of which are supposed to fight corruption, they are generally viewed as ineffectual. 

The sanctions are the latest since 2018, when the US Department of the Treasury sanctioned former police chief Kale Kayihura over his alleged involvement in human rights abuse and corruption. 

But the unenviable reputation of Uganda as a country where corruption is rampant is solid. On the Corruption Perceptions Index, run by the Berlin-based Transparency International, which monitors public sector corruption in 180 countries, Uganda’s score has been consistently poor. 

Uganda has a score of 26 this year, with a change of 0 since 2022. It ranks 141 out of 180 countries. The lower the score, the higher the corruption. (Nordic countries have scores of 80 and above.) 

This history of corruption has tarnished the country’s image abroad and sometimes created problems for government officials. 

Ten years ago, when former Foreign Affairs minister Sam Kutesa stood for election for president of the UN General Assembly, 13,200 people, including two New York Senators, signed an online petition urging the then US Secretary of State John Kerry to block him from taking up the job. 

Mr Kutesa, who had been linked to corruption allegations that he denied, succeeded. But four years later his name was to be cited in court evidence against a Hong Kong national named Patrick Ho who was convicted for bribing African government officials. 

It is not clear if Mr Kutesa received any money, although the evidence, according to the US Department of Justice, suggested Mr Kutesa solicited a payment from Mr Ho, “purportedly for a charitable foundation” he wished to launch. 

Systemic weaknesses
A lack of political will and systemic weaknesses have been blamed for Uganda’s failure to fight corruption. Some say civil society playing a much bigger role can help stem the tide. 

That view was echoed by Ms Cissy Kagaba, a lawyer and anti-corruption activist who used to run the Anti-Corruption Coalition of Uganda (ACCU). She said foreigners are coming in because of increasing levels of impunity. 

“The government has undermined its own institutions it has put in place,” said Ms Kagaba, who headed ACCU for more than 10 years. “We should not look at government institutions that have failed to do their job. We should look at the person who appointed the heads of those institutions.” 

“The entire system is rotten,” she added. “The Speaker inherited a rotten system. Corruption is how the government survives. You need a total overhaul.”

While calling for civil society’s greater involvement in the campaign against corruption, Ms Kagaba said people need to stop looking only at NGOs as civil society. The church, academia and NGOs constitute civil society, she said. 

The just-concluded #UgandaParliamentExhibition, an online expose of financial impropriety in Parliament, was run by civil society and forced some MPs to ask Speaker Among to address the revelations, some of which had to do with billions of shillings from Parliament coffers going into bank accounts of individuals close to the Speaker. 

Parliament’s communications department said the money was meant for corporate social responsibility, although the duties of the legislative assembly, as stated in the Constitution, are about making laws. 

Intervention 
Ms Agather Atuhaire, a lawyer and journalist at AGORA, a nascent civil society outfit that co-organised the #UgandaParliamentExhibition, said if the corrupt are prosecuted, punished and compelled to return what they have illegally acquired, the international community does not have to intervene in Uganda’s fight against corruption.

“We are failing because the leaders we have are not interested in fighting corruption,” said Ms Atuhaire, who won the International Women of Courage Award 2024 from the United States. 

“It is another tool of patronage for them. It is also because the very people mandated to fight corruption are themselves corrupt or because they are toothless dogs in a country where power is not vested in institutions but in one individual.” 

Mr Odonga Otto, the former Aruu MP, said “the government is premised on patronage and cronyism”.