Retired General David Sejusa has responded to human rights lawyer Sarah Bireete’s open appeal to Rolls-Royce Motor Cars over the seizure of a luxury vehicle linked to Speaker of Parliament Anita Annet Among, dismissing her call for the manufacturer to intervene.
The Rolls-Royce Cullinan, valued at more than Shs3.4 billion, was impounded during coordinated security raids at Among’s residences in Kigo, Nakasero, and Ntinda. The vehicle was later taken to Naguru Police Headquarters as investigations into alleged corruption and financial irregularities continue.
Bireete had urged Rolls-Royce to engage Ugandan authorities, arguing that the brand’s global image of prestige and integrity risked being affected by the controversy surrounding the seizure.
In his response, Sejusa rejected the framing, arguing that the luxury brand does not represent the values attributed to it.
“My sister, Sarah Bireete, I'm going to give you some information, and after that, it is up to you to delete or keep this post,” he said. “To start with, ROLLS-ROYCE DOES NOT REPRESENT HONOR, DIGNITY, OR INTEGRITY!”
Sejusa traced the company’s historical background, linking it to broader imperial history.
“While there is no direct evidence to link Mr Rolls and Henry Royce, the founders in 1904, to Atlantic slave trade money, two things stand out,” he said. “Rolls-Royce is a beneficiary of the exploitation, plunder, and abuse of colonised peoples of Africa and India. It directly benefited from British Empire expansion.”
He added that the brand became closely associated with colonial administration.
“It’s the Rolls-Royce cars that were driven by colonial administrators, military enforcers and their African and Indian collaborators who helped destroy resistance to colonisation,” he said.
Sejusa also pointed to the current ownership structure of the company, noting that Rolls-Royce Motor Cars is owned by German manufacturer BMW.
“For BMW, it is even worse than the British guys,” he said. “BMW is a beneficiary of slave labour from Nazi concentration camps of Dachau and Munich-Allach.”
He argued that the historical record disqualifies Western luxury brands from being associated with moral ideals.
“These Western corporations cannot represent honour, integrity and dignity,” he said. “They represent inequality, slavery, and neo-colonialism.”
Sejusa further claimed that global luxury brands operate without ethical scrutiny when engaging African markets.
“We can see it by the fact that they could sell a car to someone under sanctions,” he said. “And a government employee without concern whether she or he was a thief or not.”
The statement comes as investigations continue into the seized Rolls-Royce Cullinan, which has drawn public attention amid wider probes into wealth declarations, taxation, and high-value imports linked to senior government officials.
Bireete had described the vehicle’s seizure as a matter of due process and brand dignity, while Sejusa’s remarks have shifted the debate toward historical and ideological interpretations of Western luxury brands.