Museveni warns western powers on Ugandan spies

By APOLLO MUBIRU

President Yoweri Museveni has warned western embassies against recruiting young Ugandan officials as spies and agents in government.

"We have reports that they invite our young Members of Parliament; give them funds which are not reported either in parliament or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This is corruption, if they get money which they don't declare. If it is to help our country, it should be reported. If it is not reported, it is looked at as some of our partners recruiting agents or spies in our country,” the President said.

He added: “We don't want embassies of our friends to recruit spies from our people. We are not hostile powers to you; neither are we your enemies, why would you recruit? This is a serious form of corruption. If you get money from foreign sources and don't declare to IGG, Parliament or police, you are not only corrupt, but an agent."

The President made the remarks Wednesday while meeting the European Union delegation to Uganda at State House Entebbe.

The meeting is part of their political dialogue with the President as agreed upon in article 8 of the Cotonou ACP-EU agreement.

The meeting is meant to foster a deeper EU-Uganda political understanding and cooperation and focused on issues such as Democracy and Human rights, Peace and Security and Economic Growth and Governance.

A Sate House statement said the President , cited the case of a woman only identified as Filipa from the conservative party in the United Kingdom who has been funding various young politicians travels in various countries, the President said private funding of Ugandan citizens is unacceptable.

 "Giving Uganda officials cash, not cheque or paying through the bank is money laundering," he told the delegation led by the Head of Delegation of the European Union Dr Roberto Ridolfi.

Other envoys present were: Marc Gedopt- Belgium, Nathalia Feinberg- Denmark,Klaus Dieter Duxmann--Gemany , Anne Webster- Ireland and Ambassador Stefano Antonia Dejak  of Italy.

Also present were: Aline Kuster-Menager of France, ambassador of Netherlands Jeroen Verhaul,
Urban Andersson of Sweden, the British Deputy High Commissioner Phillip Mani and Austrias' Simone Knapp.

Responding to Dr. Roberto Ridolfi on the need to change the way the Electoral Commission is composed by either having the Judicial commission or an independent commission submit names from which the President can appoint members of the commission to promote consensus as part of electoral reforms before 2016, the President said while this was something to think about, it is important to know who the reformers are.

He however agreed that the priority is for gradual reform of the institution because it is a technical job whose training takes time unlike the army.

"I can't just disband the Judiciary or the civil service overnight. If you are interested in reform in Uganda, this is where we should start. We have already dealt with the army and now the police. Before you rush to say judiciary, let us think about it," he said.
The Dutch Ambassador expressed concern over the quality of political dialogue where most debates are fought on the streets.
The President replied "With the elections, when you win, you run a government, if not you form a coalition. This is about running a country after an election.

I can't engage in a dialogue because we never had a minority government. The only dialogue is on the way forward on national issues," he said. The President said they formed an interparty forum with a rotating chairmanship but some groups refused to come, adding that this would be the best forum for dialogue.

'What you say is polarization is just political indiscipline, terrorism and sabotage of the sovereignty of the people. But that will be sorted out. When work to work started, some people want us to let them walk and get tired. But I wanted them to work with the police. I'm responsible for the economy of Uganda and can't ruin it. As the confusion continued, even those who said let them walk, regretted it. This polarization is artificial, it is not there," he said.

The President however said that because of lack of cooperation of some groups and limited funds, this could not be enforced; adding that what the opposition feared was that the funding should be pegged on numbers in parliament.