By Osiya Moses Kayz

Uganda’s real crisis is corruption at the parliament headed by Anita Among, not political distractions. Uganda continues to confront one painful, inescapable question: How can a country crippled by failing hospitals, deadly roads, mass unemployment, and grinding poverty keep producing some of the wealthiest public officials in the region, complete with multi-billion-shilling luxury vehicles casually dismissed as “birthday gifts”?

At the centre of this national outrage stands Hon. Anita Annet Among, Speaker of the 11th Parliament, who took office in 2022 following the untimely death of Jacob Oulanyah. Over the past few years, Speaker Among has emerged as one of the most polarizing figures in Ugandan politics. In 2024, both the United Kingdom and the United States imposed sanctions on her linked to serious corruption allegations surrounding the Karamoja iron sheets scandal. UK authorities accused targeted officials of diverting resources intended for some of Uganda’s poorest and most vulnerable communities.

The Ugandan government failed to mount a credible domestic prosecution. Supporters of the Speaker insist the sanctions were politically motivated, tied to Parliament’s passage of the 2023 Anti-Homosexuality Act and allegedly pushed by opposition forces like the National Unity Platform (NUP). Yet for millions of ordinary Ugandans, these explanations ring hollow in the face of visible opulence.

The Symbol of Excess

Recent reports of Speaker Among acquiring a Rolls-Royce Cullinan valued at over Shs 3.4 billion and described by her as a “birthday gift” have poured fresh fuel on the fire of public anger while citizens battle skyrocketing living costs, un-employment and crumbling services, such displays of wealth feel like a deliberate insult to the suffering majority.

This is not mere politics, It is personal and painful. Every single day, Ugandan families lose loved ones in hospitals without medicine or basic equipment. Pregnant mothers die from complications that should be preventable. Talented young people graduate only to join the ranks of the unemployed. Deadly roads continue claiming lives. Yet a small political elite indulges in luxury that most Ugandans will never see in their lifetime. This grotesque inequality breeds deep resentment, especially among the youth.

In 2024, this frustration exploded into the #March2Parliament protests, actions I helped spearhead as young Ugandans demanded an end to wasteful parliamentary spending and the culture of luxury vehicle purchases at public expense.

The Dangerous Distraction

While citizens reel from these realities, national discourse is hijacked by endless culture wars, foreign policy theatrics, and succession talk. General Muhoozi Kainerugaba frequently dominates headlines with inflammatory statements, repeated attacks on opposition figures including Bobi Wine and Dr. Kizza Besigye (at one point publicly suggesting hanging Besigye as a “special gift” to Ugandans), threats against political prisoners, and diplomatic spats that have targeted the US Embassy and even escalated into bizarre ultimatums against Turkey and its ambassador.

Many Ugandans, including me believe these provocations serve as dangerous distractions. Uganda’s greatest enemy is not external powers, nor cultural debates, nor neighbouring countries. It is the entrenched corruption and impunity within our own institutions especially the Parliament.

Institutionalized corruption and eroding trust

The concern goes far beyond any one person. Corruption increasingly appears systemic and protected. Whistleblowers and investigative journalists often face intimidation, threats, or political harassment when they target the powerful.

Major scandals rarely reach transparent, credible conclusions in our courts. Citizens rightly ask why external governments sometimes act more decisively with sanctions than our own institutions do with investigations.

As Uganda prepares to co-host the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations, serious questions loom over procurement processes, transparency, and who will ultimately benefit from the huge public investments. Ugandans remember past mega-event scandals all too well and fear history repeating itself especially as the country sinks deeper into debt.
The questions that demand answers
Ugandans are no longer whispering these questions, they are shouting them:

1. How do some public officials accumulate such enormous wealth in such a short time while earning official salaries?

2. Why are grand corruption scandals so rarely investigated and concluded with genuine accountability?

3. Why do foreign governments appear more willing to sanction our leaders than our domestic institutions?

4. How have we allowed ourselves to treat certain moral issues as more urgent than the systemic theft that is literally killing our people and future?

5. Who is truly speaking for the ordinary Ugandan mother, father, graduate, and farmer?

A direct nessage at swearing-In
Uganda is a nation of hardworking, resilient, God-fearing people. But hope is dangerously fading. Many now feel trapped between crushing poverty and a political class that seems increasingly untouchable.

At the next swearing-in ceremony on and every public platform thereafter, this truth must be spoken plainly and courageously to those taking office : Uganda’s future is no longer safe in President Museveni’s hands alone if the current trajectory of corruption, impunity, and institutional decay continues. No country can develop when corruption becomes normalized and citizens lose all faith in justice and accountability.

We must rebuild independent institutions that place the national interest above personal enrichment. We must demand transparency, especially around major projects like AFCON 2027. Without bold, genuine reform, debt will continue to balloon, public trust will collapse entirely, and the dreams of millions will remain buried under the weight of elite excess.
The time for polite silence is over.
For God and My Country.

Moses Kayz Osiya is a Ugandan lawyer, writer and social commentator whose work examines the intersection of law, culture, governance, and human rights in contemporary African societies.

The post OP-ED: Speak truth to the public servants swearing-in this week appeared first on Watchdog Uganda.