Scammed in the name of the Father, the Son and the Uncle: A cautionary tale on the politics of patronage

Another investor is scammed in Uganda. Fast and furious. Millions of dollars gone. The scammed investor tells of fixers who promise access to the corridors of power.

Fixers who razzle-dazzle them, pulling out the red carpet, meetings in swanky offices or government buildings complete with beefy state security at their beck and call. The guileless investor imagines they are wise to the guiles of doing business in Uganda – they fork out premium dollars, supposedly ‘facilitating’ meetings with the ruling class who hold the keys to Uganda.

Alas, it ends in tears! The latest victim in the media is Ugandan-American entrepreneur, Gloria Kamira Lukalu. Kamira, the CEO of Exutory Africa, a tech company providing IT services to governments and enterprises, arrived in Uganda in February this year with big dreams to give back to her homeland.

A Daily Monitor article reports that she sought to establish a tech facility in Gulu district in Northern Uganda to empower young people through innovation labs. Instead, she was scammed out of $25,000 (approx. Shs 90 million) by individuals who promised her gilded access to the president’s brother and head of Operation Wealth Creation (OWC), Gen Salim Saleh, and the First Son, army chief, Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba (MK).

Kamira fingers personalities connected to the Patriotic League of Uganda (PLU) and Operation Wealth Creation (OWC) as architects of the well-orchestrated scam. Dear reader, please bear in mind that Kamira is in the IT sector and thus her noble goal – set up an innovation hub. Shortly after her arrival, she was introduced to a fixer named Eddy Kiyimba, who promised access to power and privilege.

The fixers did not promise to introduce her to relevant organisations in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) sector. Perhaps, Kamira, like others before her, thought it best to trust the locals, the fixers. And rightfully so. Unfortunately for Kamira, her fixers had zero interest in her lofty aspirations for her fellow Ugandan youth.

Otherwise, they would have happily escorted her to government institutions such as Uganda Investment Authority, State House Investors Protection Unit, the Diaspora Desk in the Office of the President or the Diaspora Department in the ministry of Foreign Affairs, the ministry of Science, Technology and Innovations, ministry of Education and sports, etc, you name it – we have it.

The fixers had their eye on the bag. They had Kamira doing the most non-STEM stuff, all in the guise of getting closer to the corridors of power. The fixers asked Kamira to contribute funds towards the 2026 parliamentary candidature of a woman simply identified as ‘Deborah.’ Kamira told the Daily Monitor, “I welcomed the opportunity to help another candidate…” Kiyimba also asked Kamira to fork out $3,500 for his office space.

Must have been a rather spiffy space at that price. He assured Kamira that the office would guarantee a meeting with Gen MK as he finagled more money out of her, explaining the landlord needed to fix up the office nicely. Who doesn’t want a nice office?

Next on the list: the fixers secured an invitation for her to attend the Gen MK birthday run – maybe she would run alongside MK and brief him on her vision for Ugandan youth. But for Kamira, there would be no free running.

The fixers ‘invited her to make a monetary contribution to MK’s birthday run to secure that MK meeting. Kamira obliged and became a sponsor – persuaded all this was key to achieving her goal. On the day of the birthday run, Kamira was ready. Ahem. The fixers were readier.

The birthday run T-shirts did not list her company as one of the funders nor did birthday boy, Gen MK attend his own birthday run (who even runs to celebrate their birthday?). Kamira told the Daily Monitor she was heartbroken and disappointed. The slippery slope continued undeterred.

Downplaying the MK episode, the fixers assured Kamira a meeting in Gulu with the president’s brother, Gen. Saleh, was certain. Again. More dollars were required to ensure the meeting. Kamira was starting to dither – she sent half of the money. When the meeting with Saleh eventually materialized, she was ushered into a room of OWC officials but no Salim Saleh.

The fixers blamed Kamira. The Daily Monitor notes that an OWC official, Sylvia Owori, told Kamira she could not meet Saleh as she was ‘not prepared enough.’ While in Gulu, the fixers even had Kamira attend the First Boda Boda Retreat (yes, your regular boda rider could do with a retreat) organised recently by OWC.

One of the fixers named by Kamira, Asaph Nahurira, posted on his X account, “Yesterday, I escorted the Director of Exutory Services Ltd. Ms Kamira Gloria, at the national first-ever boda boda union leaders, retreat in Gulu, where, as a mental health expert, she briefed the riders and other leaders in attendance about the dangers of using drugs.”

Nahurira’s bio on X states that he is PLU’s head of mobilisation in Kampala. Dear reader, in case you are as bewildered as I was while reading Kamira’s attempts to invest in the STEM sector by seeking political access, here is the clincher that ties everything together nicely.

“They told me the money I was paying would open every door in Uganda’s investment ecosystem…”

We started out gaping at the woes of Kamira, a Ugandan American looking to do right by her homeland, and instead came away with a cautionary tale on how the politics of patronage buoyed by corruption is regressing our country. This is not the first time an investor has been conned in the name of the presidency or those close to it.

In 2018, a New Vision investigation revealed that Chinese investors in Uganda were paying handlers between $20,000 and $50,000 to secure an audience with President Museveni. President Museveni’s regime has a plethora of anti-corruption agencies and legal frameworks, yet gross corruption continues to blight Uganda.

In 2023, Museveni announced yet another big fight against corruption, the State House Investors Protection Unit, citing it as a unit that investors could call directly to report bribery or delays. The politics of patronage has created a dizzying spider web of mediocrity and impunity, relegating due process and public institutions to ineffectiveness.

It is not surprising that investors and locals alike seek access to individual power centres (gamba n’ogu) to unravel the spider web. Yet despite her devastating losses, Kamira refuses to give up.

In a public letter shared on her social media accounts about her experience, Kamira reiterates her resolve, “Africa does not rise because of comfort, Africa rises because of fire. Because of those who refuse to bend…of women and men who dare to build again…even after betrayal…after the theft. After the heartbreak. And so, I will build. Again. Because, if we don’t, who will?”

smugmountain@gmail.com

The writer is a tayaad muzzukulu.