US, UK sanctions on Ugandan officials could be smokescreen

By Ofwono Opondo

Many are happy that the British and US governments have slapped sanctions on Uganda government officials among them Speaker Anita Annet Among a.k.a. AAA for allegedly helping themselves to the public till with reckless abandon.

Last week I dared call Anita Annet Among to inquire what’s going on and she swore over the phone that she doesn’t have a single property in the UK and had been there only once in her lifetime to take measurements for Parliamentary gowns when she spent two days and proceeded to Paris.

“I have properties in Kachumbala, Amutur, Apopong and Bukedea sub-counties, Ntinda and Nakasero, and am proud to state so” she told me in a manner of fact. Well, for publicly telling the world the UK government could be engaged in forgery and lies about her property in Landon, they are not amused and perhaps coordinated with ally US to slap own sanctions, and as a flavour added Karamoja mabati indicted minister Amos Bugoloobi, former ministers Mary Gorretti Kitutu, Agnes Nandutu, and Gen. Peter Elwelu, some with their spouses as guilty by association.

Well, it’s only Among who knows the real truth, and probably the Brits and US have more on her to carry their case than they are presently willing to share with the public. But knowing how the US and UK ‘sexed up’ intelligence that Saddam Hussen had ‘stockpiles’ of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) to invade Iraq, and ran over Vietnam, Serbia, Syria, Muamar Gaddafi, and now Vladimir Putin, nothing can be taken off their table. 

When Uganda has sizeable gold fields and petroleum that president Yoweri Museveni has said we shouldn’t let them control, and yet hobnobbing with Chinese and Russian governments and investors, surely the sanctions become inevitable, and are currently squeezing Uganda to sever its defence and military ties with Russia. Uganda is already struck off AGOA beneficiary list. And so when some of those officials get publicly highlighted in mistakes that turn them threadbare, some will be made bad examples in geopolitical webs complex to appreciate. 

It’s going to difficult to convince our fellow citizens that the goals are different and possibly destructive to Uganda. It is necessary to state that NATO is readjusting its interests in Eastern Africa since the Cold War era when the US had military bases along the Indian ocean line, something we should watch. The LGBT+Q is an increasingly influential lobby in the US and Europe, but these sanctions aren’t primarily about them, as Among and her underlings would want Ugandans to believe so as to extract sympathy. They ought to moderate their narrative. 

Uganda’s mineral reserves, or rather ‘curse’, which the US and UK presently don’t fully control, will cause problems until they lay their hands on. It could entice assassination and coup attempts, regime change advocacy, maneuvers and possibly war when all others fail, and Ugandans need to prepare for a long fight.

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Only recently Uganda’s international credit ratings was downgraded whose main objective could be to drive out foreign capital especially targeting the petroleum, energy, gold, tourism, and Standard Guage Railway sectors. And don’t forget the numerous travel advisories over the so-called security concerns including on the eve of the Nyege Nyege festival, and yet not many Ugandans can see the horizon this far.

However, the pain is that we appear so shambolic with scanty skillsets to know, let alone appreciate and maneuver out. It’s the reason police can have brutal tackle against opposition public meetings, we engage in pilferage and open opulence with public resources and enact AHA yet unable to clearly see the consequences from outside. Ugandans must demand, and it’s prudent that leaders provide full accountability to public matters without looking for scapegoats.

The writer; Ofwono Opondo is the Uganda Media Centre Executive Director