Jailed after exposing alleged corruption in Ugandan sports body

Netball is one of the most popular sports in Uganda and the national team one of the world’s best. The sport also plays an important educational role by providing youths from disadvantaged backgrounds with opportunities for sports scholarships at local and international universities.

When Sarah Kityo was elected as president of the Uganda Netball Federation in 2021, she amended its constitution to implement a series of reforms. These included introducing policies for whistleblowers and internal grievances, imposing financial controls, eliminating superfluous positions and placing the executive under the supervision of a board of trustees.

Kityo believes these steps set her on a collision course with the National Council of Sports, a government body that allocates public funds to various sporting federations in Uganda, including netball. Her reforms empowered players to lodge grievances ranging from corruption to sexual harassment and stripped the sports council of its powers to hire and fire executives. She says when other federations showed signs of wanting to follow suit, she became a threat to the powerful council.

It wasn’t long before she crossed swords with National Council of Sports General Secretary Patrick Ogwel, who wrote to Janet Museveni, Uganda’s first lady and Minister of Education and Sport, to object. The matter was referred to the Attorney General, who declared that Kityo’s reforms were legally sound.

Matters deteriorated further in September 2021 when Ogwel allegedly demanded a 40 million shilling kickback after allocating 100 million Ugandan shillings (27,000 USD) for the team to take part in a tournament in South Africa. Kityo refused to pay the kickback, but alleged her vice president, Richard Muhumza, provided Ogwel with 30 million shillings meant for players’ allowances. Ogwel denied receiving the funds.

Ogwel later accused Kityo of misappropriating funds he had allocated for the team to play in a subsequent tournament held in Namibia. He refused to disburse more funds to the Federation, including for the 2022 Commonwealth Games, pending the outcome of an investigation. 

The same year a gang of armed men were captured on CCTV cameras breaking into Kityo’s residential compound. The family was not home, but the incident prompted her and her husband to send their teenage children abroad for their safety.

In 2023 Kityo went on the offensive. She appeared on television to say Ogwel had repeatedly demanded kickbacks whenever he allocated funds to the Netball Federation. She also brandished bank statements showing he’d only provided 186 million shillings (50,000 USD) for the Namibia trip, despite demanding that she account for 425 million shillings. These matters were referred the government ombudsman.

Soon afterwards she began to receive sinister phone calls and messages. Some warned she would be killed, others that she would be exposed for sleeping around or committing fraud.

A glimmer of hope appeared when an investigation by the ombudsman, known as the Inspectorate of Government (IG), vindicated Kityo. The IG found the allegations that she had misappropriated the Namibian funds were based on fabricated documents and were thus “false and malicious”. It also ordered Ogwel to repay 100 million shillings that were unaccounted for from the Namibian funds, and that Kityo’s deputy, Muhumza, and the federation’s treasurer should account for or repay 30 million shillings skimmed off player allowances during the South Africa tournament.

Far from ending her travails, the IG’s findings only appeared to make matters worse.

A week after the IG issued its report exonerating Kityo, Janet Museveni, issued a directive ordering her to vacate her office for three months pending further investigations, including for financial mismanagement and player mistreatment.

Shortly after this Kityo was arrested and charged with fraud in a convoluted case that later turned out to be bogus, although she was forced to spend five nights in jail before being granted bail. The charges were eventually withdrawn almost a year later after the complainant recanted.

“This was a deliberate strategy to tarnish my image in the public eye, cripple me financially and scare other whistleblowers from coming forward,” she says. “It was also meant to serve as a form of psychological intimidation.”

When she later tried to resume her duties, Janet Museveni issued a directive ordering funding for the Federation to be frozen, and for Kityo to be barred from returning until the criminal investigations against her were concluded.

Shortly after this, in November 2023, Kityo was stopped in her car, hauled off to a police station and charged with embezzling the 186 million shillings Ogwel had allocated for the Namibia games. She was forced to spend the weekend in jail. While in custody, the police informed her she was also under criminal investigation for defaming Ogwel and told to give a statement. After appearing in court on the embezzlement charges she was detained in jail for another two nights before posting bail.

At the end of 2023 Kityo decided to give up on the sport she had previously played at national level and loves dearly, pending the outcome later this year of her legal challenge against being barred from running the Federation. “I have fought enough, but these guys are still after me and my family,” she says, adding that she continues to receive death threats. 

In late 2024, the Ugandan Netball Federation was dissolved and replaced with a new organisation called Netball Uganda. Some of those appointed to work at the new entity were either found to have been involved in corruption by the IG or are alleged to have done so.

Since her initial arrest Sarah Kityo has heard nothing more about her defamation case but has appeared in court several times on the embezzlement charges. Kityo points out these are patently absurd: the 50 000 USD she’s being accused of stealing was the entire government allocation that funded 27 people, including the players, to spend 21 days in Namibia for two tournaments that they actually played.

Kityo maintains these charges, like all the allegations of financial mismanagement levelled against her at the Netball Federation, were fabricated because she blew the whistle on high-level corruption. But she vows she will not be silenced.

“I am not going to run away, however much they try to tarnish my image,” she says. “I will clear my name and fight to defend people who went through what I am going through.”

Sarah Kityo shares the Blueprint Africa Whistleblowing Prize for 2024.