Uganda-America tough love enters new phase

In January 2010, the United States Congress directed the then Secretary of State, Ms Hillary Clinton, to closely monitor Uganda’s preparation for the 2011 General Election.

The US Congress, the country’s legislative arm, also directed Ms Clinton, to actively promote the independence of the Electoral Commission (EC) and write reports on the steps taken by the Uganda government to address concerns raised ahead of the polls. This was a time when President Museveni’s hold on the power was under intense strain.

Mr Olara Otunnu, who had held a top position at the United Nations, had just returned home and a prospective Opposition coalition with Dr Kizza Besigye was in the works. There was an intense push for reforming the electoral system, with the Opposition saying they would not participate in any election without reforms.
It appeared to many, then, that the honeymoon, which had seen Mr Museveni regarded as a darling of the West, including the United States, was coming to an end.
Earlier, former US president Bill Clinton had classed Mr Museveni among those he referred to as “a new breed” of African leaders, and Uganda had been dubbed a “star pupil” of the structural adjustment programmes sponsored by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund with the backing of the US.

In the rather abrupt twist led by Ms Clinton, US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Mr Johnnie Carson, was the man on the ground in Uganda actively engaging both President Museveni’s government and the Opposition about Uganda’s political future ahead of the 2011 polls.
As the push was taking root, another abrupt twist arrived in the form of the July 2010 Kampala bombings.
The bombings, carried out against crowds watching a screening of the 2010 FIFA World Cup Final match at Kyadondo Rugby Club and Ethiopian Village Restaurant on July 11, left at least 74 dead and 71 injured.

America’s focus shifted to supporting Uganda, which had taken the initiative to lead the fight against al-Shabaab militants in Somalia, in combating radical Islam. Ms Clinton and the American government did not pay any more special attention to the 2011 polls or if they did, their works and observations were not made public.

In his 2011 post-election analysis, Mr Carson termed the process that led to Mr Museveni’s relatively easy re-election with 68 per cent of the votes as ‘successful’ and described the same as an improvement on the 2006 elections.

While acknowledging that the process was not perfect, Mr Carson said the elections “largely reflected the will of the Ugandan people”.
Then a few months later, Ugandans were on the streets protesting against the rising cost of living and other questions of the day, bringing into question the legitimacy of the government that had just won a new mandate. The protests, which were famously known as Walk-to-Work, were violently quelled by the police under Gen Kale Kayihura, backed by the military.

Another twist, and another
The reading of the situation by many was that the attempt to pressure President Museveni’s government in the lead up to the 2011 elections was in a way engineered by Mr Barack Obama, the first Black American to rise to the highest office in the US but felt a need to do something about governance in Africa, especially since he is the son of a Kenyan father. But the departure of Mr Obama came with more twists in the US-Uganda relations.

On March 25, a US court sentenced Chinese citizen Patrick Ho to three years in prison for what it called his role in a “multi-year, multimillion-dollar scheme” to bribe top officials of Chad and Uganda in exchange for business advantages for a Chinese company. Mr Ho was convicted of violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), money laundering, and conspiracy to commit the same, in December 2018, after a one-week jury trial before a US Judge.

US authorities said Mr HO caused a $500,000 (Shs1.83 billion) bribe to be paid, via wires transmitted through New York, to an account designated by Mr Sam Kutesa, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uganda, who had recently completed his term as the president of the United Nations General Assembly in what they dubbed the “Uganda Scheme”.

Mr Ho, the US Justice Department added, also schemed to pay a $500,000 (Shs1.83 billion) cash bribe to President Museveni and offered to provide both Mr Kutesa and Mr Museveni with additional corrupt benefits by “partnering” with them and their families in future joint ventures in Uganda.

For a second year in a row after the allegations were made and Mr Ho jailed, President Museveni and Mr Kutesa have elected not to attend the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, US, and none of them has visited the US. Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda, once again, led the Ugandan delegation to UNGA this week.

Last year, State House, in explaining Mr Museveni’s absence at UNGA, which he had hitherto attended regularly, told this newspaper that the President had other “more important” issues to attend to. The President’s decision to snub the UN meet was also discussed by Cabinet.

“The President told Cabinet it was pointless to travel to New York when he was going to address the assembly for only 15 minutes. It is also costly in a way that each time he travels, he is accompanied by a big delegation.

Cabinet endorsed the decision and the records are there,” Mr Henry Okello-Oryem, the State Minister for International Affairs, told Daily Monitor at the time. President Museveni is yet to publicly comment on the allegations made by US officials against him in the Patrick Ho case, but when a question was put to him in regards to his foreign minister, he said Mr Kutesa would have to answer to Ugandan authorities.

Addressing journalists at State House Entebbe, President Museveni said Mr Kutesa will have to explain to the Attorney General his role in the matter.
“Obviously it is a crime for him to get money from a foreign company. What were they paying you for? That would be a bribe and he will be answerable,” Mr Museveni said.

Mr Museveni added that Mr Kutesa, in his own confession, said the money was meant for charity, a matter that is being investigated by the government.
“I have told him to be in touch with our Attorney General to crosscheck; was this money for the charity or it was for him?” Mr Museveni said.

A preliminary report presented to Parliament has since cleared Mr Kutesa of any wrongdoing.
Attorney General William Byaruhanga said the minister was not involved in any form of bribery as had been alleged.

“While it is true Kutesa’s name is mentioned in the indictment and featured in the course of trial, he is not an accused or suspect in any criminal matter that is currently ongoing,” Mr Byaruhanga told Parliament.
Mr Byaruhanga said Mr Kutesa’s foundation is a lawfully registered Ugandan entity incorporated on July 24, 2015 and received $500,000 in 2016 from a Hong Kong-based NGO known as China Energy Fund Committee.

“It was a donation to Kutesa’s company started as a vehicle to enable him continue championing some of the causes he had spearheaded during his tenure as the president of UN general assembly with respect to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals,” added Byaruhanga. He, however, told Parliament that investigation into the matter were ongoing

In January, Mr Kutesa assured Parliament that he was not under any travel ban after concerns were raised about his ability to effectively represent Uganda in light of the bribery allegations by the US government.
Citing a trip he had made to Brussels, Belgium, the Mawogola North MP said he is free to move anywhere.

Facing East
Whenever Mr Museveni’s relationship with players in the West has appeared strained, he has cozied up to the East, particularly China and Russia. During his 2016 swearing-in ceremony, for instance, Mr Museveni slammed the “arrogant” West as he praised Russia and China, which he said do not poke their noses in the affairs of other countries.

This year, both Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping have snubbed UNGA, just like Mr Museveni. And China’s influence on African countries is growing.
In September 2018, for instance, it emerged that twice as many African presidents had made it to the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) Summit in China than to UNGA.
President Museveni, with a big Ugandan delegation, attended the summit in China but snubbed the UN General Assembly that year.

Both President Museveni and Mr Kutesa were back in China from June 24 to 28 this year to attend another China-Africa summit but, as noted above, have both skipped UNGA once again. Besides China, President Museveni has also attended a week-long event this year in Japan. President Museveni has, according to sources, confirmed attending the first ever Russia-Africa Summit, which will be held in Sochi, Russia, from October 22 to 24.
“For him, it’s more important to make such trips than spending time at the UN,” the source said.

Envoys of different countries based in Kampala, separate sources told Saturday Monitor, petitioned the President Museveni to attend UNGA, especially on the question of South Sudan and Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. He reportedly asked them to find him in State House in case there is need to have such meetings.

Kayihura sanctions and more
Then in a move that will have left a number of Ugandan officials uneasy, the US last week sanctioned Gen Kale Kayihura, the immediate former Inspector General of Police, on “serious” human rights abuses, corruption, bribery, theft, and smuggling illicit goods, including drugs, gold, and wildlife, out of Uganda.

At the height of his power, Gen Kayihura was seen as a top enforcer of President Museveni, and his sanctioning, especially on actions he is said to have carried out while he occupied a top State position as he enjoyed the support of President Museveni, has been interpreted as America, in a way, having a go at Mr Museveni.

In his response to the sanctions, Gen Kayihura intimated that the act was an attack on Uganda’s sovereignty.
Commenting on the sanctions last weekend, President Museveni did not dwell on the grounds that the Americans spelt out for sanctioning his erstwhile top cadre, but remarked that it would concern him if Gen Kayihura indeed had assets in the US, which by virtue of the sanctions, would have to be frozen.

Apart from Gen Kayihura, several members of Uganda’s security agencies, including the police and the military, have been blacklisted, albeit quietly, from travelling to the United States or attending any US-sponsored training programmes. The issues that have brought them trouble range from corruption to their alleged role in a range of human rights abuses.

In 2014, the late Andrew Felix Kaweesi, then Kampala Metropolitan Police Commander, was blocked from travelling to the United States to attend a course by the US’s Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI).
Kaweesi was later assassinated together with two of his assistants shortly after leaving his home.
It had emerged, earlier, that the US Embassy in Kampala had blacklisted some senior police officers singled out for their role in the brutal suppression of the ‘walk-to-work’ protests.

Some of the officers named at the time included Grace Turyagumanawe, who was in charge of operations.
Mr Turyagumanawe is the current Director of Peace Support Operations in the Uganda Police Force. Others were Joel Aguma, who at one time commanded the discredited Rapid Response Unit (RRU) and Laban Muhabwe, who has since retired from the Force. Mr Aguma’s last deployment in the police was as commandant of the Police’s Professional Standards Unit (PSU). He has since been incarcerated on charges of kidnap, illegal repatriation of refugees and being in unlawful possession of military weapons.

A civilian court recently ordered for his release and compensation of more than Shs200 million, an order military and other State authorities declined to implement.
Internal Affairs Minister Gen (rtd) Jeje Odongo on September 5 told Parliament that Mr Aguma cannot be released before a comprehensive determination of his charges.

The former deputy commander of the Flying Squad - now in-charge of General Crimes at the police CID headquarters, Mr Francis Olugu, was taken off a FBI training list because of his role in committing alleged acts of torture, killings in Kasese and others. He was stopped from travelling to the US to take part in any US-funded activities.

In 2016, Maj Gen Sabiiti Muzeyi, currently the deputy Inspector General of Police who was then a Colonel and deputy to First Son Lt Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba as commander of the Special Forces Command (SFC), was removed from his post and designated for a course in the United States. The course did not materialise and it has since emerged that he was blocked by US authorities from attending a course in the country.

SFC is the force that guards the President, the First Family and key security installations in the country.
In 2017, Lt Gen Peter Elwelu, was blocked from travelling to a US-sponsored African Land Forces Summit in the Malawian capital, Lilongwe.

Gen Elwelu commanded the army to calm the situation in Kasese, following a disagreement between the central government and the Rwenzuru Kingdom.
“Land Force Commander, Elwelu is also on such a sanction and has as a result been rendered idle for the most part. I also have it on good authority that the Deputy IGP was denied a US visa recently,” a diplomatic source said.

In his letter about Gen Kayihura’s indictment, President Museveni subtly addressed the issue of his military men being blocked, by the US from training.
“In co-operation in, for instance, Defense matters, some of the Western countries tried to tell us which soldiers should not be selected for courses in their countries and we rejected that position by stopping all training in those countries,” Mr Museveni said.

Funding dwindles
Funding to military and several other programmes has suffered cuts over time. The US now mainly focuses on supporting Uganda’s health and a few other sectors.
The United States, for example, slashed its funding support to Uganda in 2018 by more than Shs3 billion lower than what it disbursed in 2017.

The support fell from Shs3.6 trillion in 2017 to Shs3.3 trillion in 2018.
US priorities are now in areas of the health, education, democracy, agriculture, the refugee crises, rule of law and governance and regional stability, among others.

Allegations against Kutesa, Museveni (source: United States Department of Justice)

The Uganda Scheme began around the same time as the Chad Scheme, when HO was in New York for the annual UN General Assembly. HO met with Sam Kutesa, who had recently begun his term as the 69th president of the UN General Assembly (“PGA”). HO, purporting to act on behalf of CEFC NGO, met with Kutesa and began to cultivate a relationship with him. During the year when Kutesa served as PGA, HO and Kutesa discussed a “strategic partnership” between Uganda and CEFC China for various business ventures, to be formed once Kutesa returned to Uganda.

In or about February 2016 – after Kutesa had returned to Uganda and resumed his role as Foreign Minister, and Yoweri Museveni (Kutesa’s relative) had been reelected as the president of Uganda – Kutesa solicited a payment from HO, purportedly for a charitable foundation that Kutesa wished to launch. HO agreed to provide the requested payment, but simultaneously requested, on behalf of CEFC China, an invitation to Museveni’s inauguration, business meetings with Museveni and other high-level Ugandan officials, and a list of specific business projects in Uganda in which CEFC China could participate.

In May 2016, HO and CEFC China executives travelled to Uganda. Prior to departing, HO caused CEFC NGO to wire $500,000 to the account provided by Kutesa in the name of the so-called “foundation,” which wire was transmitted through New York, New York. HO also advised his boss, Ye Jianming, the then-chairman of CEFC China, to provide $500,000 (Shs1.83 billion) in cash to Museveni, ostensibly as a campaign donation, even though Museveni had already been reelected. Mr HO intended these payments to influence Kutesa and Museveni to use their official power to steer business advantages to CEFC China.

HO and CEFC China executives attended President Museveni’s inauguration and obtained business meetings in Uganda with Museveni and top Ugandan officials, including with the Department of Energy and Mineral Resources.
After the trip, HO requested that Kutesa and Museveni assist CEFC China in acquiring a Ugandan bank, as an initial step before pursuing additional ventures in Uganda.

HO also offered to “partner” with Kutesa and Museveni and/or their “family businesses,” making clear that both officials would share in CEFC China’s future profits. In exchange for the bribes offered and paid by HO, Kutesa thereafter steered a bank acquisition opportunity to CEFC China.

Spotlight on courts

Conviction: Robin Longoria, 58, of Mansfield, Texas, was on August 29 convicted by a US court after she pleaded guilty of conspiracy to facilitate adoptions from Uganda through bribery and fraud.

Bribe claims: In this particular case, judges and other court officials in Uganda were reportedly paid bribes to corrupt the adoption process.
No names: The US did not name the judicial officers involved in the scam and whether they have retired or still on the bench but the issue is instructive of the allegations of years of corruption in the judiciary.

Action: A source privy to how such issues are handled told Saturday Monitor that the US is unlikely to publish the names of the Ugandan officials involved unless it is deemed necessary but will likely deny them visas and restrict their participation in any US funded programme or project.

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