President Museveni has ordered the Inspector General of Government (IGG) and the Minister of Integrity to investigate the Speaker of Parliament, Rt Hon Anita Among, over allegations that she owns houses in the United Kingdom.
This is contained in a letter dated May 2, 2024, to Hon Jeje Odongo, the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
In the letter, President Museveni revealed that he met with the British High Commissioner at her request for an urgent meeting.
“The meeting was at Nakasero but I was on my way to Entebbe for other meetings. I, therefore, did not have time to discuss with anybody the issue.”
Museveni said the High Commissioner told him that they intended to sanction the Hons Mary Goretti Kitutu and Agnes Nandutu for their roles in the iron sheets (mabaati) issue.
“I would like, by the copy of this letter to ask the Attorney General the legality of this action since this is a purely internal matter for Uganda.
The alleged theft was discovered by our agencies and the Uganda courts are handed the case. The accused are not yet convicted. How do other countries come into the matter? Attorney General advise.”
He went on: “She (the High Commissioner) told me about sanctioning the Rt Hon Speaker Anita Among. I said, “Why?” She said that Anita Among has got a house or houses in the UK and has got bank accounts from which she pays school fees for her children who are studying there.”
“I told her that the issue of houses would be very interesting if, especially, Anita Among did not declare them in her Leadership Code documents.”
According to him, if she had declared them then the next issue would be how she got the money to build them.
“If these two are answered correctly and showing no mistake, the remaining issue would be political, ideological judgement. Why would a Ugandan leader build or buy houses in the UK or anywhere else abroad, when Uganda, the still underdeveloped country where she would have earned the money, still needs these investments? It would definitely be a moral and ideological mistake.”
Museveni said that he, therefore, told the High Commissioner that the Uganda government would demand from the UK government more information about this.
“Attorney General and Ministry of Foreign Affairs to advise on how this can be done and the appropriate authority to go ahead and do it. Meanwhile, by the copies of this letter, I request the Inspector General of Government (IGG) and Minister of Integrity to inform me if the Rt Hon Anita Among declared in her forms of leadership code her owning of a house or houses in the UK.”
Museveni told the High Commissioner that the issue of bank accounts may not be a serious issue if Among sent legitimately earned to support her children.
When the UK announced that it had slapped sanctions on Anita Among, she took to Parliament to claim the sanctions were informed by her stand on the Anti-Homosexuality law.
“I have interacted and I now know that the sanctions are due to the Anti-Homosexuality law that we passed. I have a visa to Bukedea and Buyende, I don’t need a visa to the UK. I’m not worried, the Head of State will respond at an appropriate time,” she said.
However, when the Leader of Opposition, Joel Ssenyonyi, asked why she was rallying MPs to be angry with her over the sanctions yet she had claimed that she was not worried, she responded that she was carrying the cross for 48 million Ugandans.
Ugandans reacted by taking to X (formerly Twitter) and demanding that she carry her own cross with the hashtag #NotMyCross.
