Our MPs are Very Influential Persons

By GRACE NAKATO

I know we expect our leaders to be corrupt, lie and steal to achieve their personal agenda, but the MP for Aruu County Samuel Otto takes the cake!

He had two children with Grace Acan, a doctor at a local hospital but they later separated and she retained custody. He later married Juliet Oyulu, a lawyer, and had three more children. Sam and Julie recently successfully acquired American citizenship through the Green Card lottery, and he decided that this great benediction ought to be shared by all his  five children — that is when the katemba (drama) began.

Grace was aware that Sam and his second family had successfully procured Green Cards, but declined to have her children included on the application. Sam being a sly fox, came up with a plan B — adoption!

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Our adoption laws are lax and people have had a grand time selling their children for as little as Sh35,000 in the name of getting them a better life. Some of these children get a bitter life as they are trafficked and used as cheap labour or as sex slaves and few actually achieve a better life. Considering his break up with Grace was not amicable, Hon Sam decided to take advantage of the gaps in the system and successfully applied for legal adoption of the children — which he got.

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He produced fake birth certificates stating that his late brother was the biological father. He also alleged that Grace’s children, aged six and nine years, were living with him and his wife Julie. His reason for legal adoption was so that they could take advantage of his Green Card status and American citizenship to have a better life. The adoption documents were filed through his wife’s law firm and soon the children had passports and were ready to travel.

Grace got wind of the story and threw a spanner in the works by calling in media and the police. She says the children live with her and Sam only pays school fees.

Sam has now backtracked and claims he had asked a junior lawyer to file for custody and never read through the adoption documents before appending his signature. When asked about posing as the children’s uncle he hedged saying he only wanted his children to have a good life. Grace thinks more sinister things are afoot because they have their own children and seem desperate to snatch hers away.

Grace is lucky that Sam did not think of acquiring diplomatic passports for his family.

In Uganda, MPs are not supposed to have diplomatic passports, but a number have been busted with them. Currently, Ugandan VIP passports have been blacklisted in Thailand and UK because they claim our government has no clue of the number of diplomatic passports currently in circulation. They don’t seem to understand that in Uganda, VIP means Very Influential Person; such influence can be by virtue of office or by financial liquidity.