The group cited documents from an internal Financial Intelligence Agency report leaked to them by “sources within Parliament”, and their story has dominated the Ugandan press since late February.

Among did not respond to requests for comment by openDemocracy. But Chris Obore, the director of communications and public affairs for the Ugandan Parliament, told openDemocracy the documents and other evidence the journalists had shared were “concocted and distorted”, although he did not provide any evidence when asked.

Obore also claimed during a ‘Spaces’ broadcast on X (formerly Twitter) last week: “We… know that this campaign is not an innocent campaign for accountability…

“We know that since Anita Among passed the homosexuality bill, the effort has been to bring her down.”

Asked by openDemocracy to expand on these claims, he said: “There is no corruption in Parliament. It is known knowledge that the homosexuals and their promoters are desirous of damaging Speaker Anita Among but she only did what [the] majority [of] Ugandans told her to do – guide the debate on the Anti-Homosexuality Bill in the House, and the law was passed unanimously.

“Let anybody provide evidence of corruption in the Speaker’s Office other than the distorted and concocted documents being spread on social media. He who alleges must prove.”

He also insinuated that the exposé had been sponsored by the US embassy in Kampala, which the journalists dismissed as “ridiculous”.

Among was one of the champions of Uganda’s 2023 anti-homosexuality law, passed by Parliament in May 2023, which attached a maximum term of life imprisonment to the ‘offence’ of gay sex.

The exposé has implicated other members of Parliament too, including the former leader of the opposition Mathias Mpuuga, who has acknowledgedthat he and three other commissioners handed themselves “service awards” worth 400 to 500 million Ugandan shillings. Mpuuga insists this was legal, but the National Executive Committee of his party, the National Unity Platform, has recalled him as a parliamentary commissioner as a result. The Uganda Law Society – the professional body that regulates lawyers – has issued a statement calling the cash awards “illegal”.

Journalist Agather Atuhaire, who helped break the scandal, dismissed Obore’s claims as “a way to discredit the information and character assassinate” the whistleblowers, while relying on the prejudices of a homophobic society.

Documents shared by Atuhaire implicate a number of Among’s staff – including Obore himself, who according to the documents had more than 1.9 billion Ugandan shillings deposited in personal accounts between April 2023 and January 2024. The money was marked in the documents as being used for various outreach and community projects. Another document suggests that, in October 2023, more than 2.6 billion Ugandan shillings were deposited in another staff member’s accounts for the same reasons. The transactions were just four days apart.