Parliament, again, blames anti-gay law for Among's UK sanctions

Parliament said the iron sheets have been used as a "ruse to conceal the real, unstated but clearly obvious reason for the sanctions".

CORRUPTION | The Ugandan Parliament has once again pointed stiff fingers at the anti-gay law, blaming the controversial May 2023 legislation for Speaker Anita Among's woes.

The United Kingdom government on Tuesday, April 30, slapped Speaker Among with debilitating sanctions, including asset freeze and travel ban, for allegedly "benefiting from corruption at its worst and that has no place in society".

The allegations are related to the 2023 Karamoja iron sheet scandal in which Ms Among was listed as having benefited from as many as 500 pieces of the roofing materials procured by the Office of the Prime Minister for vulnerable persons in Karamoja sub-region.

But in a statement hours after the UK sanctions became public, Parliament said the iron sheets have been used as a "ruse to conceal the real, unstated but clearly obvious reason for the sanctions".

"Which is the Speaker's stance on the recently enacted Anti-Homosexuality Act," Mr Chris Obore, the director of communication at Parliament, said in the statement.

The UK's Deputy Foreign Secretary, Andrew Mitchell, jointly sanctioned with Mary Goretti Kitutu and Agnes Nandutu - both former Karamoja Affairs ministers who were in March sacked from Cabinet.

Mr Obore does not explain how the two then were also sanctioned if the UK were rolling a cart ruse with shadowy spikes aimed at his boss Anita Among.

Read: UK sanctions corrupt politicians in Uganda who stole from vulnerable communities

Instead, it is on the record that days after the expose on the Karamoja iron sheets scandal and subsequent revelations that Ms Among had received 500 pieces of the iron sheets, the Speaker returned her burden.

The return was revealed by the Speaker personally while chairing the plenary sitting of Wednesday, March 15, 2023.

“I have always said I got a call that iron sheets have been brought; after further analysis and considering that iron sheets were made for Karamoja and not Bukedea," she said.

"I have taken a personal decision as a leader to buy 500 iron sheets and give them back. I have sent my personal assistant to give back the iron sheets. I do not want to be a shame to Parliament."

Parliament yesterday reiterated its head's insistence that the iron sheets in distributed to public schools.

The irons sheets, like any other OPM relief items, were branded as government property and not for sale. Any lay person would immediately have realised this.

But the expose last year captured irrefutable evidence of some of the beneficiaries having already roofed their goat shed and other facilities with the relief items.

Others had sold it at giveaways prices.

Mr Obore also said Mr Mitchell - "who was vocal in condemning Speaker Among for enacting the Anti-Homosexuality Act" - did not, in his statement, indicate how exactly the Speaker derived personal benefit from them.

"It is important that foreign partners, including the United Kingdom, respect the sovereignty of Uganda, and avoid the temptation to meddle into our local politics, including arm-twisting decision makers to align with their value system, especially on homosexuality," he said.

The homosexuality card is one the Speaker and other government officials - including the Executive - have dished out with petty bravado whenever accountability queries have been raised.

While there is no single denial that relief items were diverted, and that Ms Among actually returned those she had irregularly acquired - by commission or omission - the anti-gay law is still blamed.

"Take away the controversial law, does the gross corruption just go away then?" asked Mr Kakwenza Rukirabashaija, an exiled Ugandan lawyer and acclaimed writer.

"Issues of accountability should not be reduced to such petty excuses, not when there are the most vulnerable citizens involved," added Kakwenza, a vocal critic of Ms Among and Parliament.

The UK said it was 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," Mr Mitchell said, leaving Mr Obore clutching at another line of defence.

The statement, he said, claims the sanctions are due to charges purportedly faced by the Speaker and two other ministers in the Anti-Corruption Court, "which is a false premise because the Speaker has never been charged with corruption in any courts of law, contrary to the insinuation in the statement".

The UK statement merely said Ms Among "benefited from the proceeds" but that the two former ministers were facing charges before the anti-graft court.

"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," Mr Mitchell said.

Ms Among and the two former ministers face asset freeze and travel bans.

An asset freeze prevents any UK citizen, or any business in the UK, from dealing with any funds or economic resources which are owned, held or controlled by the sanctioned Ugandan officials.

It will also prevent funds or economic resources being provided to or for the benefit of Ms Among and her associates.

A travel ban, on the other hand, means that Among, who has previously rubbished travel restrictions to the US, is an excluded person under the UK Immigration Act.

The UK said the new sanctions are part of its continued effort to crack down on serious corruption around the world.

The measures follow previous UK sanctions under the Global Anti-Corruption sanctions regime, which has targeted individuals involved in serious corruption cases across the world, including Bulgaria, Lebanon, Moldova, Russia, South Africa, South Sudan, and Venezuela.