US bans speaker, army commander, and ministers from entering Uganda

Five Ugandan public officials, including the Speaker of Parliament and the immediate past Deputy Chief of Defense Forces, were sanctioned by the US on Thursday. This action increases pressure on Kampala to take action regarding the officers’ integrity and human rights records.

Only one month has passed since the UK imposed comparable sanctions on the head of the national assembly as well as two former ministers.

In a statement dated May 30, 2024, the US State Department declared that Speaker Anita Among was subject to sanctions because of her substantial involvement in corruption connected to her position as head of the Ugandan Parliament.

According to the statement, the Speaker is also fighting against sanctions against her for corruption that the UK imposed at the end of April. As a result, her financial holdings and real estate in London have been frozen.

The Speaker has been tasked by President Yoweri Museveni to explain her purported property and financial holdings in the UK and whether or not Ms. Among declared them as required by the Leadership Code Act. The UK sanctions have sparked investigations, and numerous state institutions and officials have been involved in this process.

Ministers with sanctions

The US also imposed sanctions on Amos Lugolobi, the Minister of State for Finance, Mary Goretti Kitutu, the former minister of Karamoja affairs, and her deputy, Agnes Nandutu, for their roles in serious corruption involving the misappropriation of public funds and the diversion of supplies from Uganda’s most impoverished communities.

“All four officials misused their public positions for personal gain at the expense of Ugandans,” the spokesperson for the Department of State, Matthew Miller, stated in a statement.

Massacre in Rwanda

However, Washington disregarded the UK and went after President Museveni’s most dependable state institution—the military—by penalizing Lt-Gen Peter Elwelu, the deputy CDF of the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF) until two months ago.

He faces consequences due to his involvement in egregious human rights crimes.

In particular, Peter Elwelu participated in extrajudicial executions carried out by UPDF troops while in charge of UPDF forces. The statement states that the identified Ugandan officials are typically not eligible to enter the United States as a result of these activities.

Elwelu led the attack on the Rwenzururu King Charles Wesley Mumbere’s palace in 2016 while serving as Commander of the UPDF’s Second Division. The attack left the main town of Kasese in the area in a state of shock, with over 180 people being arrested and detained and over 100 people killed, including children.

Elwelu, a Brigadier-General at the time, was not held responsible for the deaths despite widespread criticism of the raid on the palace by political figures, religious authorities, and domestic and international human rights organizations. Instead, he received a promotion and was named Chief of Land Forces.

Elwelu is a member of parliament now serving as the army’s representative in the national legislature.

spouses prohibited
As per the statement, the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2024 (Div. F, P.L. 118-47) authorizes the imposition of the penalties under Section 7031(c).

Because of this, the US also imposes penalties on the husbands of Ms. Among and Goretti, Moses Hashim Magogo and Michael George Kitutu, respectively, as well as Evelyne Nakimera, the wife of Lugolobi, who will be denied admission into the US.

Under a strategy adopted by Secretary of State Antony Blinken in December 2003, the Immigration and Nationality Act’s Section 212(a)(3)(C) is being used to impose visa limitations on a number of other Ugandan nationals.

The Department of State cited suppressing members of vulnerable or marginalized populations in Uganda and undermining the democratic process.

According to the statement, “these individuals are complicit in or responsible for the repression of vulnerable communities in Uganda, civil society organizers, and members of political opposition groups in Uganda.”

laws that discriminate against gays
Speaker of Parliament Among has stated time and time again that the corruption is a front for the West and that she is being singled out and subject to sanctions because she oversaw Uganda’s contentious anti-homosexuality law, which imposes the death penalty for homosexuality that is considered severe.

Human rights and homosexual activists have criticized the Ugandan government for passing one of the strictest anti-same-sex laws in the world, which prevents marginalized groups—especially sexual minorities—from living freely and from accessing essential services like healthcare.

However, opposition political leaders have also said that the government and security services have violated the rights of their supporters, putting some incommunicado and keeping them for years without charge or trial, forcing others to leave the nation.

Among them are followers of the National Unity Platform (NUP), who were abducted and imprisoned in 2019 for endorsing the primary opponent of President Museveni in the 2021 presidential race—pop musician turned politician Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, also known as Bobi Wine.

In light of this, the US declared that it supports Ugandans in their fight for democratic values, an inclusive government, and the holding of individuals in positions of authority accountable for their deeds of corruption and flagrant human rights abuses.

According to the State Department, “impunity allows corrupt officials to stay in power, slows down development, makes crime easier, and causes unequal distribution of resources, which can affect underrepresented and underserved populations disproportionally.”

“Today’s actions reinforce the United States of America’s resolve to bolster openness in Uganda’s democratic processes, combat corruption worldwide, and tackle the wider culture of impunity that impedes every Ugandan from exercising their fundamental freedoms and human rights.”

According to analysts, by imposing penalties on Elwelu, the US is once more telling the Ugandan government to rein in its senior military officials who are engaged in egregious human rights violations and arbitrary killings.

Due to allegations of gross human rights violations, corruption, and bribery, the US imposed financial sanctions on then-Chief Military Intelligence Maj Gen Abel Kandiho in December 2021. Two years prior, the Department of Treasury sanctioned former Chief of Police Gen Kale Kayihura.