Is Anita Among, speaker of the Ugandan Parliament, paying a price for her role in passing the anti-gay bill in her country last year, or is she guilty of corruption?
That’s the question Ugandans and people elsewhere ponder about the embattled speaker who, on May 30, was sanctioned by the U.S. State Department for what the agency calls acts of corruption.
The U.S. decision was announced a month after UK authorities also accused Among of corruptly benefiting from a project meant for the poor as well as owning a property in the UK.
On May 30, the U.S. State Department, through its spokesperson Matthew Miller, said Among and four other Ugandan officials and their spouses have been barred from entering the U.S. due to abuse of public office, corruption and human rights violations.
(Bigstockphoto)
“Speaker of Parliament Anita Among is designated due to involvement in significant corruption tied to her leadership of Uganda’s Parliament,” Miller said, adding, “Former Minister of Karamoja Affairs Mary Goretti Kitutu, former Minister of State for Karamoja Affairs Agnes Nandutu, and Minister of State for Finance Amos Lugolobi” are also designated due to “their involvement in significant corruption related to conduct that misused public resources and diverted materials from Uganda’s neediest communities.”
All four officials, Miller said, “abused their public positions for their personal benefit at the expense of Ugandans.”
On the other hand, Peter Elwelu, former deputy chief of the Ugandan Peoples’ Defense Forces, was called out for his involvement in gross violations of human rights.
“Specifically, Peter Elwelu was involved, while commanding UPDF forces, in extrajudicial killings that were committed by members of the UPDF,” the report said. “As a result of these actions, the designated Ugandan officials are generally ineligible for entry into the United States.”
Prior to the State Department’s statement, the UK, on April 30, under its Global Anti-Corruption Sanctions, disclosed that Among benefited from proceeds of “thousands of iron sheets used for roofing and infrastructure from a Ugandan government-funded project aimed at housing some of the most vulnerable communities in the region.”
Two other people accused of diverting the materials for personal gain are Mary Goretti Kitutu and Agnes Nandutu, both former government ministers “for Uganda’s poorest region, Karamoja.”
Andrew Mitchell, deputy UK foreign secretary, said: “The actions of these individuals, in taking aid from those who need it most, and keeping the proceeds, is corruption at its worst and has no place in society. The Ugandan courts are rightly taking action to crack down on those politicians who seek to line their own pockets at their constituents’ expense.”
The sanction against the three Ugandan officials, under the Global Anti-Corruption Sanctions regime, the report points out, is the first time anyone from the country would be so penalized since the introduction of the regulation in 2021. They thus join the list of individuals from countries like Moldova, Bulgaria, South Sudan, Lebanon, Russia, South Africa and Venezuela who have been so flagged.
By its action, the UK “is sending a clear message to those who think benefiting at the expense of others is OK,” Mitchell said. Corruption “has consequences and you will be held responsible.”
Apart from the allegation of corrupt enrichment, media reports show UK authorities link Among to the ownership of a flat in the UK, an allegation she denies. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni reportedly was briefed by UK officials about it, whereupon he dispatched a query to the speaker demanding answers.
“I have got information that is contrary to what you told me, that you, indeed, own a house in London in the form of Flat 4, Silk House, 7 Waterden Road, London, E20 3AL, United Kingdom. Do you own that house or are you renting it?” the president asked.
Among, in a post on X on May 29, challenged her accusers to show evidence that she owns the property in question. She claimed she is not the owner of the property at the address Museveni asked about.
Instead, she said, the property allegation is an attempt to get back at her for her role in passing the anti-LGBTQ bill last year, one of the most restrictive in Africa.
“I insist and wish to alert all, soundly, that the issue is not the alleged corruption or ownership in the UK,” she said. “The attempts to forge and claim that I own property when their own records show the contrary tell it all. The real crux of the matter is about targeting Anita Among for being vocal against homosexuality. The rest is a cover-up.”
Then she paraphrased from the Bible, John 8:32 — “The truth will set me free.”
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