By Our Reporter
According to reports, President Yoweri Museveni has expressed concern over the revelation that Speaker of Parliament Anita Among allegedly owns assets in the United Kingdom.
In a leaked letter, Museveni questioned how a public official in Uganda could afford such expensive assets.
“Why would a Ugandan leader build or buy houses in the UK or anywhere else abroad, when Uganda, a still under-developed country where she would have earned the money, still needs those investments?” reads a letter addressed to the Minister of Foreign Affairs Gen. Jeje Odongo.
The speaker’s alleged UK properties, including a luxurious mansion in an upscale neighbourhood, were confirmed by HE Kate Airey, the British High Commissioner to Uganda, in a brief to President Museveni.
“She (HE Kate Airey) also told me about sanctioning the Rt. Hon. Anita Among. I said: ‘Why?’ She said that Anita Among has houses in the UK and bank accounts from which she pays school fees for her children who are studying there,” the President said.
He added: “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. 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 judgment.”
Museveni has since ordered the Inspector General of Government and the Minister of Integrity to investigate whether Speaker Among declared her UK properties in her Leadership Code documents, as required by law.
“I have instructed the Inspector General of Government and the Minister of Integrity to investigate this matter thoroughly and report back to me,” Museveni said.
Last week, the United Kingdom (UK) government imposed stringent sanctions on the Speaker of the Parliament of Uganda, Anita Among, and two former ministers, Mary Goretti Kitutu and Agnes Nandutu, for their alleged involvement in corrupt activities that have deprived vulnerable communities of essential resources and undermined the rule of law.
The two ministers, now subject to a travel ban and asset freezes, are alleged to have stolen iron sheets from a housing project in the Karamoja region and provided them to prominent politicians and their families. Speaker Among is alleged to have benefited from the scheme.
Speaker Among commented that the sanctions were unrelated to the iron sheets scandal but were instead a response to her efforts to advance the Anti-Homosexuality Act in Parliament. She further clarified that the sanctions would not affect her, as she does not own any property in the UK and has no immediate or future plans to travel there.
Among last year declared her wealth to the Inspectorate of Government as required by law and tasked the Inspector General of Government (IGG), Beti Kamya to thoroughly verify declared assets by public servants.
Wealth declaration is an accountability mechanism geared towards enhancing good governance and the fight against corruption.
Then, Among said the IGG should not be swayed by surface declarations made by public officials, noting there should be deeper investigations to attach the right wealth to an individual.
