The US sanctioned five public officials in Uganda, including the Speaker of Parliament and the immediate past Deputy Chief of Defence Forces. This action increases pressure on Kampala to take action regarding the officers’ integrity and human rights record.

Only one month has passed since the UK imposed comparable sanctions on the head of the national assembly and 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, Yoweri Museveni, 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.

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 abused their public positions for their benefit at the expense of Ugandans,” says the statement issued by Matthew Miller, Department of State spokesperson.

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 breaches.

“Specifically, Peter Elwelu was involved, while commanding UPDF forces, in extrajudicial killings that members of the UPDF committed.  As a result of these actions, the designated Ugandan officials are generally ineligible for entry into the United States,” the statement reads.

In 2016, while he was Commander of UPDF’s Second Division, Elwelu led the attack on the palace of the Rwenzururu King Charles Wesley Mumbere, resulting in a massacre that left a chilling air all over the area’s main town Kasese, with over 100 people killed, including children and more than 180 others arrested and detained.

Despite wide condemnation of the raid on the palace by politicians, religious leaders, and local and international human rights groups, Elwelu, then a Brigadier-General, was not held accountable for the killings. Still, instead, he was promoted and appointed Chief of Land Forces. Currently, Elwelu is a Member of Parliament, representing the army in the national assembly.