President of the Uganda Journalists Association (UJA), Mathias Rukundo, has warned members of the association to avoid falling victim to a fake State House SACCO scheme.

In a statement released to the media on January 7th, 2026, he said that their attention has been drawn to the ongoing actions by some individuals claiming to be State House Patriotism Secretariat staff.

“These are going around calling the association members across the country, tasking them to provide their personal information to their office,” he said.

Rukundo revealed that some of the staff have introduced themselves as Dr Ogwang Francis, using the phone number 0748249263 and Mr Emmanuel Oyite, using 0774113182. These, he said, are claiming to be working under the State House Patriotism Secretariat.

“In the course of doing so, they have been making a claim that the journalists solicited data will be used by their secretariat to open up SACCOs for their benefit,” he added.

He explained that on questioning their actions and intentions as suspect, some of the contacted journalists have reached out their teams with complaints, inquiring whether the association is involved.

“The Uganda Journalists Association would therefore, like to inform all its esteemed members that it is not involved in that alleged scheme. We caution our members and media practitioners to disregard it with all contempt it deserves,” he advised.

He said the association’s legal team has equally been instructed to take stock of the same and act accordingly.

UJA reaffirmed its unwavering commitment to defend press freedom, promoting ethical journalism and holding duty bearers accountable.