Museveni demands Speaker Among explains UK house ownership

192.com indicates that the flat went down for £183,895 (Shs891 million).

NATIONAL | President Museveni has directed Speaker of Parliament Anita Among to explain ownership of a house in the United Kingdom that the British government insists belongs to her.

In a May 23 letter - confirmed by State House as authentic -, Mr Museveni said he had received information that is "contrary to what you told me".

The information, he said, is that Ms Among, indeed, owns a house in London.

"Do you own that house or are you renting it?" the President asked in the brief letter in which he does not specify the source of his new information.

Mr Museveni said the house was in the form of Flat 4, Silk House, 7 Waterden Road, London, E20 3AL, United Kingdom.

According to 192.com, a British company that publishes an online directory as well as information contained within the public domain for the UK, the property was sold as leasehold flat or maisonette on April 26, 2021.

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A maisonette is a self-contained apartment (usually on two floors) in a larger house and with its own entrance from the outside.

192.com indicates that the flat went down for £183,895 (Shs891 million).

A site that placed the property on the market on behalf of Dimension Estates, onthemarket.com, described it as a property is well located in the heart of vibrant Stratford Central with a wealth of shops and entertainment spots nearby and a new Westfield shopping centre.

"Sorry, we are not able to supply ownership information for this property at present," is all the site gives when you press for ownership detail.

What next?

Speaker Among is understood to have already responded to the President although Nile Post could not get a head on her response.

Mr Museveni, who directed the Minister of Foreign Affairs to contact the UK Government and get details regarding the house, is scheduled to meet with the Inspectorate of Government about the same tomorrow.

The development appears to have run Ms Among the full circle with her options slimmer every dizzying step she takes.

When the UK government sanctioned Speaker Among and two former ministers for corruption related to benefitting directly or indirectly to relief items or proceeds thereof meant for vulnerable Karamojong, Ms Among had vehemently denied the allegations.

She said she did not even own a pussycat in the UK and insisted the sanction was a political witch-hunt for her stance against homosexuality in the country.

However, Mr Museveni would reveal later that he had met with British High Commissioner to Uganda, Ms Kate Airey OBE, at State House Nakasero on the day UK government announced the sanctions.

On May 2, Mr Museveni directed Inspector General of Government (IGG) and the Ethics ministry to look into the UK's claims that Ms Among owned a house in London.

"Why would a Ugandan leader build or buy houses in UK or anywhere else abroad, when Uganda, the still under-developed country where she would have earned the money, still needs those investments?" the President said.

"It would definitely be a moral and ideological mistake."

But more than 12 hours later, the State House dramatically disowned the letter, calling it forged.

President Museveni then directed Foreign Affairs minister Jeje Odongo to write to demand the UK government explain the source their information that Speaker Anita Among has a house or houses in the UK.

The President said he had received IGG's message that Ms Among did not not reveal anything related to ownership of a house or houses in the UK.

"I have received a letter from Dr Patricia Achan Okiria, deputy Inspector General of Government, of the 9th of May, 2024, informing me that the Rt. Hon. Anita Annet Among never revealed that she had a house in United Kingdom," the President told Gen Odongo.

He said Ms Among had also told him that she does not own a house or houses in UK.

Mr Museveni is seeking more detail into the said property's ownership but it is would be very unusual for the UK government to place its own reputation at stake by providing such information or even sanctioning an official without watertight evidence.

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