US Federal Court Linked Museveni to a 500000$ Bribe, in the same Week Transparency International awarded Museveni for his Anti-Corruption Activities.

*Fwd: Complaint: Transparency International's anti-corruption award to Yoweri Museveni*

From: Helen Epstein <hepstein@bard.edu>

Date: Fri, 7 Dec 2018, 16:40

Subject: Complaint: Transparency International's anti-corruption award to Yoweri Museveni

To: ethics@transparency.org <ethics@transparency.org>, nsoebagjo@board.transparency.org <nsoebagjo@board.transparency.org>, kdecker@transparency.org <kdecker@transparency.org>, mebert@transparency.org <mebert@transparency.org>, scutzach@transparency.org <scutzach@transparency.org>, mheywood@transparency.org <mheywood@transparency.org>, bmartelli@transparency.org <bmartelli@transparency.org>, ti@transparency.org <ti@transparency.org>, press@transparency.org <press@transparency.org>, johngithongo@gmail.com <johngithongo@gmail.com>, mallimadi <mallimadi@gmail.com>, claude@aglan.org <claude@aglan.org>, moe@friendsofthecongo.org <moe@friendsofthecongo.org>, atim_belinda@yahoo.co.uk <atim_belinda@yahoo.co.uk>, bosco_nyeko@hotmail.com <bosco_nyeko@hotmail.com>, margaretopio@gmail.com <margaretopio@gmail.com>, remember.miamingi@gmail.com <remember.miamingi@gmail.com>

To: Delia Ferreira Rubio and the Staff and Board of Directors, Transparency International,

We the undersigned read with dismay that TI  recently conferred upon Ugandan leader Yoweri Museveni  an award for his anti-corruption activities. Just this week, a US Federal Court linked Museveni and his Foreign Minister/brother-in-Law to a $500,000 bribe from a Chinese energy company.  His officials have also been discovered siphoning off tens of millions of dollars from programs intended for refugees.  More than a million of those refugees have fled the war in South Sudan, which Museveni's own army has been fueling with illegally smuggled weapons for years.  Thus Museveni and his henchmen have been profiting from the very mayhem they have been creating.

This pattern of behavior is nothing new.  Museveni’s notoriously corrupt regime, which took power by force in 1986, has stolen, altogether, billions of dollars from the Ugandan Treasury, the National Social Security Fund and even humanitarian programs intended for victims of AIDS and malaria and children's vaccines.  Museveni's forces have also committed numerous atrocities inside Uganda, such as the massacre of unarmed civilians, including small children; severe torture, including the crippling of political opponents and probable targeted killings of opposition figures.  He has then blocked independent investigations into the aforementioned crimes.

For over thirty years, Museveni’s army has also been marauding throughout the Horn and Great Lakes of Africa, stoking conflicts, including the Congo Wars, the Rwanda genocide, and, as previously mentioned, the ongoing war in South Sudan--conflicts that have collectively cost millions of lives.

Last summer's brutal arrest and torture of the charismatic MP and musician Bobi Wine, along with 34 others, shed some light on the dire human rights situation in Uganda, but because of Museveni’s willingness to put Ugandan troops at the West’s disposal in Sudan, Somalia, Iraq and other theaters of the War on Terror, he has largely escaped censure and has even been praised for welcoming the refugee victims of the very conflicts his army has been stoking.

One of the ways Museveni’s regime sanitizes its image is by engaging with organizations like yours.  TI's award sends a message to the international community that Museveni’s regime is committed to development and transparency, when this is not the case.  It therefore undermines the integrity of your organization and constitutes a colossal insult to the millions of survivors whose loved ones have suffered and died because of his corruption and warmongering.  We request that you rescind the award at once.  We also urge you to consider the above when choosing event venues in the future.

Sincerely,

Helen Epstein, Eastern Africa Transparency Project USA

Belinda Atim, Margaret Opio and Bosco Nyeko, Uganda Sustainable Development Initiative UK

Milton Allimadi, Black Star News USA

Remember Miamingi, South Sudan Human Rights Observatory South Africa

Claude Gatebuke, African Great Lakes Action Network USA

Maurice Carney, Friends of the Congo USA.