On April 30, 2024, UK Deputy Foreign Secretary Andrew Mitchell announced the designation of three high profile Ugandan politicians, including Uganda’s Speaker of Parliament, for their alleged participation in acts of global corruption. According to the UK government, this is the first time that UK has imposed corruption-related sanctions on individuals in Uganda. Two of the designees are former ministers who were recently charged in Uganda’s Anti-Corruption Court for allegedly stealing from Karamoja, Uganda’s poorest region, the community that they oversaw. Mary Goretti Kitutu and Agnes Nandutu were charged for allegedly stealing thousands of iron sheets used for roofing from a government-funded housing project and providing them to prominent politicians and their families instead. Anita Annet Among, the Speaker of Parliament, allegedly benefited from these proceeds.
The designations were imposed under the Global Anti-Corruption Sanctions Regulations 2021 (SI 2021/488), which subject designees to asset freezes and travel bans in the United Kingdom.
UK Government Press Release | OFSI Financial Sanctions Notice – Global Anti-Corruption