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Analysis & Investigative Report
KIGO, UGANDAOn a quiet compound in the lakeside suburb of Kigo, two symbols of excess now sit behind police lines. The first is a Rolls Royce. The second is a Range Rover bearing personalised “AAA” plates.Both belong to the Speaker of the Parliament of Uganda, Anita Among. Both were impounded by police in May 2026 following a storm of public scrutiny over the importation of high end luxury vehicles, as first reported by Daily Monitor and New Vision.But to understand the vehicles is to misunderstand the political drama. This is not a simple tale of sudden wealth. It is a story of open accumulation, presidential endorsement, and what critics call “managed corruption.”The Open Secret of WealthAnita Among did not become wealthy overnight. She did not hide her assets. On the contrary, her portfolio including hospitals, schools, sports parks, luxury real estate, and a fleet of high end cars was assembled in plain sight.“You cannot claim to be shocked by what you have publicly celebrated,” said Dr. Miriam Twebaze, a senior lecturer in political ethics at Makerere University. “When a president stands beside an official to commission hospital after hospital without once asking for the source of funds, that is not ignorance. That is endorsement.”Indeed, President Yoweri Museveni personally commissioned her flagship Bukedea Teaching Hospital in 2024. He stood beside her at multiple ribbon cuttings for schools and sports parks. At no point, according to public records and video archives, did he question the financing.At one point, Museveni himself acknowledged giving her money, stating publicly that he was the source of her financial backing.“When the head of state admits to personally funding a Speaker, the line between private wealth and public corruption disappears,” notes Kampala based legal analyst James Muhumuza. “You cannot then prosecute her for using money you gave her without prosecuting the giver.”A Sudden Conversion?The impoundment of the Rolls Royce and the Range Rover, both seized at her Kigo residence, has been hailed by anti corruption advocates as a long overdue move. But others see a different motive.After forty years of institutionalised corruption, during which successive governments have been accused of systemic graft, the Museveni administration now wants the public to believe it has become, overnight, the fiercest fighter of corruption.“Selective prosecution is not justice,” said human rights activist and former Anti Corruption Coalition Uganda director, Cissy Kagaba. “When you only move against those who have fallen out of favour, while leaving untouched those still in favour, you are not fighting corruption. You are managing loyalty.”Her assessment echoes a growing consensus among legal observers. The case against Among appears less about illegal wealth and more about political realignment.The Real QuestionThe Speaker’s defenders have posed a pointed question. If Museveni endorsed her projects, commissioned her hospital, and publicly admitted to giving her money, what exactly is the crime?“You cannot be the patron and the prosecutor at the same time,” argues political commentator Mwalimu Matiya. “Either the president was blind to corruption for four decades, or he is now selectively blinding himself to allies he still needs. Neither version inspires confidence.”The seizure of the vehicles may be legally sound. But politically, it opens a deeper wound. The perception that in Uganda, justice depends not on the law, but on whose protection has been withdrawn.Bottom LineThe Range Rover with the “AAA” plates sits impounded. The Rolls Royce remains under guard. But for many Ugandans, the real question is not whether the Speaker broke the law, but why now, and why only her.Until that question is answered with consistency, Museveni’s war on corruption will be seen for what critics say it is, not a purge, but a performance.By Alexander LuyimaThe Hoima Post
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