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Museveni Is Spending More Than Half a Million Dollars in Washington While Uganda's Democracy Unravels
As Uganda's political crisis deepens, newly disclosed lobbying contracts reveal a government investing heavily in Washington and not in democratic reform.
By Dr. Daniel Kawuma
July 16, 2026
For nearly four decades, Gen. Yoweri Museveni has built his political brand around resistance to foreign interference. At official state functions, and international forums, his government has frequently portrayed Western governments as neo-colonial actors seeking to dictate Uganda's political future. Whenever concerns are raised about election integrity, corruption, or human rights, the response from Kampala has often been to denounce outside criticism as an assault on Uganda's sovereignty.
Yet the public record in Washington tells a remarkably different story. New filings under the U.S. Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) reveals that the Government of Uganda has quietly expanded its lobbying operation in the United States, adding additional firms to represent its interests before Congress, the Executive Branch, and other American policymakers.
Far from distancing itself from Washington, Museveni's government is investing increasingly significant public resources to shape how Washington views his administration at precisely the moment when Uganda's democratic trajectory is attracting heightened international scrutiny.
The latest disclosure follows the government's decision earlier this year to retain veteran Washington lobbyist Joseph Szlavik and his firm, Scribe Strategies & Advisors, under a contract worth $25,000 per month, or approximately $300,000 annually. That agreement was widely viewed as an effort to strengthen Uganda's standing in Washington following the rigged 2026 general elections and growing congressional scrutiny of the country's deteriorating human rights record.
The lobbying effort has now grown substantially. According to newly filed FARA documents, Moran Global Strategies Inc. has entered into an agreement to represent Uganda while retaining Skyline Capitol LLC as a subcontractor to assist with outreach to policymakers, strategic communications, and media engagement.
The agreement provides Skyline Capitol with a monthly retainer of $20,000 beginning July 1, 2026, bringing the value of publicly disclosed lobbying contracts to at least $540,000 annually before accounting for reimbursable expenses or additional consulting arrangements. These figures are drawn directly from publicly available federal disclosures required under U.S. law.
Uganda remains a country where millions of young people face unemployment, hospitals routinely struggle with shortages of medicines and equipment, public schools remain under-resourced, and many communities continue to lack essential infrastructure. Against that backdrop, spending more than half a million dollars annually to influence policymakers thousands of miles away raises legitimate questions about political priorities and public accountability.
The latest FARA filings therefore reveal more than another lobbying agreement. They offer a window into a government increasingly focused on managing perceptions abroad while confronting growing questions about legitimacy at home. Washington should judge Uganda not by the sophistication of its lobbyists, but by the strength of its democratic institutions, the independence of its courts, the freedom of its press, and the rights enjoyed by its citizens.
Lobbyists may shape narratives. They cannot manufacture legitimacy. That responsibility rests with governments themselves, and it is earned through the consent of the governed not through contracts signed on K Street in Washington DC.
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