Why EU Diplomats are visiting Political Parties
The Democratic Governance Facility (DGF), which has for long been battling a number of system issues, is at it again.
A couple of weeks ago, it hired a set of new experts cum Component Managers and according to it head Dr. Nicole Bjerler, it is DGF’s policy to exclusively hire more white foreigners because generally Africans are not seen as efficient as their white colleagues.
Reports indicate that the new set of managers will also clean up the badly dented name of DGF with alleged corruption scandals in the past and in the current. DGF has been in the spotlight due to its foreign staffers seeking favours from the NGOs they fund, a recent audit by KPMG and PWC, exposed.
A top official whose names we have withheld for legal reasons but is soon exiting the stage has been notorious of seeking favours from local partners, involving an acquaintance in technology hacking, money laundering as well as shortchanging NGOs on their partnership grants.
NGOs in some cases were unable to implement their program activities because this official made voluminous demands and obtained favours upon grants being signed. The official oftentimes changed the proposals and budgets of organizations in order to have a cut on the funds disbursed.
In order to run away from responsibility, the official often changed their identity and names to evade responsibility. Even as they exit, the official has been awarded a package of up to 126,402 Euros, which is about Uganda Shillings 548 million as gratuity fund. The funds given to the official are not supposed to be known by other contributing embassies because the official is the only one of the staff that have been shown the exit door who has received a token of gratuity. The arrangement for the secret gratuity was brokered by a top Diplomat and a one Lisbeth Barclays – who is holding fort. Temporarily. Lisbeth says they had to reach a compromise with the official before they advertised the position.
“He knows a lot of corruption rot that involve the DGF Diplomats, so we had to send her home happily,” our sources quote a top DGF official. It is said that if he had not been given gratuity, he would have sued the DGF. It is said that it was agreed that his companion continues to get the DGF tech-procurement deals even after he has left the organization.
This official’s power was derived from the fact that he headed a Cartel of extremely wealthy foreign corrupt officials working in one of the EU’s partner missions in the country. When a new High Commissioner for this embassy arrived in Uganda, he arranged the sacking of some of the corrupt DGF officials.
The Head of the DGF Facility Dr. Wim Stoffers was immediately sacked because he could not control this top official’s cartel. The Component Manager, Mellisa Brill from America was sacked for allegedly dipping her long hand into the affairs of a local NGOs including one called DENIVA.
Mellisa Brill who was a proxy of the Americans in the DGF had amassed a lot of wealth. Another Component Manager, Esben Harboe was sacked by High Commissioner Nicolaj for her involvement in the affairs of a number of institutions in the Justice Law and Order Sector (JLOS). Harboe is waiting to leave after Entebbe Airport is opened.
After Dr. Wim was sacked, the Denmark High Commission hired Nicole Bjeler. She was previously working with the United Nations in Uganda. Her closeness with the High Commissioner is said to have resulted into a well-cordinated campaignfor the removal of President Museveni that Ugandan intelligence agencies are monitoring. She’s remembered for making cash payments to participants and accounting for all the money on big days like International Human Rights Day when she would handle all the funds primarily herself.
On her arrival at the DGF, Nicole immediately teamed up with Dutch, Marco de Swart to oversee implementation of a far-reaching plan to fund NGOs and Political parties as a pathway to remove the 34-year Museveni regime in the 2021 elections.
As part of their new approach, they organized a series of under cover conversations between EU Heads of Missions and the opposition political parties and individuals. When the information leaked that they were funding undercover activities with some opposition people, it was later resolved that they reach out to Museveni’s NRM political party to request for similar meetings.
This was meant to hoodwink NRM that the EU ambassadors were generally supporting all the political parties. The DGF is now working on a schedule of being seen to be visiting all political parties.
The current Head of DGF, Nicole recently told a friend that the High Commissioner of Denmark who also doubles as her intimate friend had told her that they are in a difficult situation considering that the NRM party seems to have understood their intentions. Nicole also told a friend that the donor funding to transform one political movement into a party had not been well handled. That the NGOs that were a conduit for the political party funding had little to show in terms of accountability besides the formal launch of a new opposition party.
Nicole and Marco are determined to run the operation of ensuring that DGF ousts Museveni through mobilizing the young population to attack key government installations at an appropriate time during the election period. For the last months or so, Nicole and Marco have been joined by an undercover operative named Cathal sponsored by EU to hold various physical and zoom meetings where they’ve agreed to fund activities that lie in Belt “B” rather than activities in Belt “B”. Belt “A” is supporting and working through government processes or Institutions to overthrow the regime.
Belt “B” is working through covert, but violent avenues, uprising to overpower government. Through Belt “B”, DGF will no longer extend any funding to Government after the opposition and Civil Society unanimously told off DGF against funding any government institution or initiative. Increasingly, both NGOs and political parties will start talking about overpowering Museveni through Belt “B”.
Cathal the brain behind, Belt or Channel “B” is said to have been lying about his wife’s health in order to obtain extra leave from office to travel abroad on undercover mission.
He has reportedly hoodwinked his colleagues that his wife is a Cancer patient, while it is just a ploy to get more time to plan undercover activities for the revolution that DGF is sponsoring..
Nicole, Marco and Cathal are the chief technical people behind the Ambassadors’ closed-door meetings with opposition forces. In the first week of her official capacity at DGF, Nicole told colleagues that she needs to work doubly fast to ensure that her political projects consume the big funding that the Facility has or else, the embassies that contribute to DGF will take back the funds.
On average, the highest paid top DGF Ugandan/local staff is paid 10,000,000 (ten million shillings per month while the foreigners recruited by Denmark are paid about 25,000 Euros per month (108 million shillings per month). Asked about the disparities, Nicole said it is not only peculiar to DGF but to all embassies and international organizations. She says international organizations and embassies do not see the value of paying their local staff good salaries.
The integrity of the Facility and the intentions of the funders remain far from what its professed technical programmes. Independent investigation reveals that DGF is a front for subversive and money laundering activities that have for long been protected by some few diplomat elements.
The Ugandan government is said to be in the final stages of preparing a protest note.
-Red Pepper
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