President Museveni has ordered the Inspector General of Government and the Minister of Integrity to probe the Speaker of Parliament, Rt Hon Anita Among, over allegations that she owns houses in the United Kingdom, reports the Daily Monitor, a Ugandan daily.
“President Museveni wrote in a May 2 letter that was made public for the first time on Friday (May 10) that he met the British High Commissioner to Uganda, Kate Airey OBE, hours before the sanctions were announced, the Daily Monitor further reports.
In the letter which was widely circulated on social media on Friday evening, 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 handling 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.”
According to the Daily Monitor, Museveni reportedly told the High Commissioner that the issue of bank accounts may not be a serious issue if Among sent legitimately earned money to support the children, who are, legitimately studying there.
“All concerned to note the contents of this letter and act where required,” he directed.
When slapped with UK sanctions, Among said that President Museveni would, at an appropriate time, address the matter.
She insisted that the sanctions were not about corruption but her stand on the Anti-homosexuality law. She said, that by being sanctioned, she was carrying the cross for 48 million Ugandans prompting Ugandans to urge her to carry her cross by taking to X (formerly) Twitter to disassociate themselves from her statement with hashtag #NotMyCross.
Below is the letter that has gone viral on social media platforms.
