UK tight-lipped over Speaker’s UK assets

The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) in London last evening declined to be drawn into discussions around Parliament Speaker Anita Among’s alleged property and bank account(s) that were the basis for the sanctions announced on April 30.

The FCDO told this publication: “We have nothing further to add to the lines that we gave your colleague, Musaazi Namiti.”

Mr Namiti is a columnist with Monitor’s Sunday edition. He wrote to the British High Commission in Kampala on May 9, inquiring about the basis of the sanctions and whether they were related to the Anti-Homosexuality Act (AHA) passed by the House with Speaker Among directing proceedings last May.

The British High Commission responded on May 10, noting that the UK Sanctions List sets out the legal reasons underpinning the sanctions designations

“These designations 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,” the response read.

On May 14, the British High Commission in Kampala referred this publication to London for a comment on President Museveni’s May 11 letter to Uganda’s Foreign Affairs minister, Gen Jeje Odongo, instructing him to engage UK authorities on the same.

“I have received a letter from Dr Patricia Achan Okiria, Deputy Inspector General of Government, of 9 May, 2024 informing me that the Rt Hon Anita Annet Among never revealed that she had a house in the United Kingdom. Rt Hon Anita Among has told me that she does not own a house or houses in [the] UK,” the President wrote.

The letter adds: Therefore, working with the Attorney-General, write an appropriate letter to the relevant authorities in [the] UK to demand the source of their information. They cannot falsely accuse any of our people and we just let it pass.”

The letter started circulating on social media on Monday evening, prompting a response from deputy Presidential Press Secretary Faruk Kirunda confirming that it was “authentic.”

President Museveni’s May 11 letter was in response to his earlier letter dated May 2 letter instructing Inspector General of Government Beti Kamya and the Integrity minister to inform him if Speaker Among “declared in her forms of the Leadership Code her owning of a house or houses in the UK.”

Any red flag from the investigations could spark impeachment proceedings against the head of the legislative arm of government.

The President, however, downplayed the issue of Speaker Among having bank accounts in the UK, saying he told, Ms Kate Airey, the British High Commissioner to Uganda, that it “may not be a serious issue if [the House Speaker] sent legitimately earned money to support the children who are, legitimately, studying [in the UK].”

Sources in the Inspectorate of Government told this this reporter that Speaker Among was among the first government officials to adhere to the mandatory declaration of income, assets and liabilities by public officers early last year.

Speaking during the aforesaid declaration in her office on March 7, Ms Among commended the exercise as a check on the rampant graft in government.

“As you know very well, the corruption that is here today has become a vice. It is a vice like homosexuality. So this vice must be stopped; must be reduced by us being accountable to the people,” Ms Among, flanked by the two deputy IGGs Anne Twinomugisha Muhairwe and Dr Patricia Achan Okiria, said.

She added: “We are duty-bound to let the public know what we are doing, what we have, and what is expected for the public from us.”

Dr Okiria indicated that they still had challenges with verification of the declared property. 

“When it comes to verification, it requires a lot more work because it requires more detailed groundwork checks to ensure and ascertain whether what someone declared is commensurate with his/her known sources of income. And in doing so, we come across people who have under-declared; someone may have 21 houses, but may have declared only two.”

The sanctions
On April 30, the UK government, in a first, invoked the Global Anti-Corruption sanctions regime on the Speaker, who doubles as Bukedea Woman lawmaker, and two former Karamoja ministers, Mary Goretti Kitutu and Agnes Nandutu, following their alleged involvement in the iron sheets (mabaati) theft scandal. The sanctions are a repertoire of travel bans and asset freezes.

“The UK is sending a clear message to those who think benefiting at the expense of others is acceptable. Corruption has consequences and you will be held responsible,” Britain’s Deputy Foreign Minister Andrew Mitchell said in a statement.

Speaker Among has described the sanctions as “politically motivated” over her stance on homosexuality, especially the AHA and vowed not to back down.

On May 4, Ms Among told Parliament that she was not bothered by the sanctions and that she did not own anything in the UK.

Monitor specifically asked both the British High Commission and FCDO whether London would be willing to share more information with Ugandan government authorities for purposes of transparency.

We also asked the British government about the rationale of the sanctions that targeted three ministers out of three who were arrested and charged; two of whom were purged in the Cabinet reshuffle in March. Ms Among was not among those charged.

At least 22 ministers, including Vice President Jessica Alupo, Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja, Speaker Among, 31 legislators, several local government officials, and other private individuals, are believed to have irregularly received the iron sheets meant for the vulnerable people of Karamoja Sub-region.

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