Speaker Among is in a hurry

In March 2023, the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) issued a disbursement bond indicating that Speaker of Parliament Anita Among was among government officials who had received 500 pieces of iron sheets intended for vulnerable people in Karamoja. Subregion.

Spokesperson Among quickly denied any wrongdoing and claimed that she had ordered the iron sheets to be distributed to government-funded schools in her backyard in Bukedea district. Now that she knew that the iron plates were destined for one of the poorest subregions of the country, her staff had express orders to return the iron plates.

Many senior executive officials would be involved. However, a criminal investigation ordered by President Museveni only resulted in three ministers – Mary Goretti Kitutu, Agness Nandutu and Amos Lugoloobi – appearing in court. Speaker Among was among the senior officials who were never charged despite being caught in the so-called Mabaatigate network.

In fact, President Museveni defended the Speaker of the House of Representatives saying: “Those who work for foreigners are traitors, but they also work for the bad types of foreigners, like homosexuals and imperialists, who want Africans to return to their country. be slaves How can there be so much talk on Among social networks? What about those foreigners?

This week, the UK sanctioned Speaker Among along with Ms Kitutu and Ms Nandutu, who were previously removed from Karamoja’s record as senior minister and junior minister respectively.

“The actions of these individuals, in receiving help from those who need it most and keeping the profits, are corruption at its worst and have no place in society. “The Ugandan courts are rightly acting to crack down on politicians who seek to line their pockets at the expense of their constituents,” said Andrew Mitchell, UK Deputy Foreign Secretary, adding: “Today, the UK is sending a clear message. “To those who think that benefiting at the expense of others is acceptable, corruption has consequences and they will be held accountable.”

Museveni has previously described such intervention by the Global North in Uganda’s internal affairs as Western imperialism. He said this after the United States removed Uganda from the list of beneficiaries of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa).

“Some of these actors in the Western world overestimate themselves and underestimate Africa’s freedom fighters. Because some of the freedom fighters make mistakes in philosophy, ideology and strategy, some of the foreign actors mistakenly think that African countries cannot move forward without their support,” Museveni said last year, adding: “As far as As far as Uganda is concerned, we have the capacity to achieve our growth and transformation goals; even if some of the actors don’t support us.”

The President also listed eight points that he believes can take Uganda in the right direction. They include “not following identity politics but following interest politics; support the private sector; development of economic infrastructure to reduce the costs of doing business in the economy; regional integration to create large markets that can absorb our products; work with foreigners who respect us; eliminate corruption; social infrastructure to develop human resources through universal education and health, and protecting the environment that controls our water and our rain.”

Jimmy Spire Ssentongo, a professor of philosophy at Makerere University, said caution should be synonymous. And he added: “When you hear an African ‘leader’ denounce the imperialists, you feel the suspicious urge to ask yourself: ‘What is he trying to hide/silence/deflect this time?’ As such, by often scapegoating imperialism and thus making the public suspicious of such talks, such ‘leaders’ have become a problem in the fight against real ‘imperialism’.”

Opposition leader Robert Kyagulanyi, alias Bobi Wine, said this week that his National Unity Platform (NUP) party welcomed the decision to sanction the speaker of the House of Representatives and two former ministers. Alex Sobel, Labor MP for Leeds North West, confirmed that Bobi Wine played a revealing role in the decision.

“During our meetings in Parliament with Bobi, one of our objectives was to ensure that corrupt Ugandan politicians face sanctions and travel bans,” Sobel revealed on X (formerly Twitter).

Ms Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of the United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), urged “the UK (government) to move forward consistently and ambitiously”.

The House where Byanyima was once a lawmaker said the county “has regulatory, investigative and disciplinary institutions that deal with corruption.”

Chris Obore, his spokesman, said those mentioned have not “deemed the president guilty.”

Although Parliament insists that Mrs Among is a victim of Western intervention, her tenure as Vice President and President has not been without incidents that stick out like a metaphorical sore thumb. She especially highlights her race that pitted her against Thomas Tayebwa for the vice presidency. Mrs Among ended up being elected vice president and Jacob Oulanyah (RIP) president.

Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda, the Kira Municipality legislator who ran for president and ended up getting only 15 votes, was one of the people who accused Among of bribing voters. Mr Ssemujju was baffled by the electoral calculation. Yusuf Nsibambi, of the Forum for Democratic Change, who was a rival of Among, obtained 35 votes; However, the opposition at the time had around 109 of the 529 seats in the 11th Parliament.

“Many of these parliamentarians are my friends. It’s not that they don’t like it, but that the policy went wrong. I saw people say ‘the power of the people, our power’; They should have said ‘people’s money, our money’. You can say that Ssemujju is very bad and (Rebecca) Kadaga has clashed with Museveni, but Anita Among of the NRM, what was the justification for voting for her? Mr. Ssemujju asked.

Ms Kadaga unsuccessfully ran against Oulanyah for the House speakership.

Six months after being sworn in as Vice President, Mrs Among attracted unnecessary attention after Mr Moses Bigirwa was arrested while in her neighbourhood. Evidence suggested that the NUP lawmaker was attempting to extort Sh100 million from the former vice president.

The information Bigirwa hoped to use to extort the Sh100 million, prosecutors would later reveal, included kickbacks from Roko Construction, kickbacks from real estate transactions and evidence that the Internal Security Organization (ISO) was being used to defraud investors. . Initially, the State argued that this was intended to disturb Ms. Among’s peace or right to privacy without any legitimate communication purpose. She later dropped the case.

Unheard of electoral petition

Mrs Among’s electoral victory in the Bukedea district was also shrouded in a veil of mystery. She became the district’s female representative after the Electoral Commission annulled the candidacy of her potential rival, Hellen Akol. Ms Akol was barred from challenging Ms Among after Umar Okodel petitioned the High Court. Okodel asked the court to prevent Akol’s nomination because there were discrepancies in her name.

The Soroti Town High Court, under the guidance of Justice Wilson Masalu Musene, who has since died, agreed with Mr Okodel that Ms Akol could not be nominated because she had changed her name from “Hellen Akol”, which appeared on the voter register, to Hellen Akol Odeke. Although Ms Akol had sworn a writing test, indicating a name change, Judge Masalu said she had done so illegally.

“Given that when the deed poll was executed on September 1, 2020, the voter update exercise had long been closed by law, it cannot be assumed that she was the same person registered as Hellen Akol Odeke,” he ruled. Judge Musene.

Ms Okol appealed to the Court of Appeal, which agreed with her that “Hellen Akol” and “Hellen Akol Odeke” are the same person, but refused to declassify Among as unopposed without hearing her, as she did not was listed in the appeal as a party. Akol took the battle to the Supreme Court, which has yet to rule on the matter and appears to have been overtaken by events.

“The Court of Appeal dubiously stated that they could not declassify Anita (Entre) as unopposed without hearing her, but this is unnecessary. The Parliamentary Elections Act requires the declassification of any unopposed candidate if another candidate is subsequently approved to have been illegally disqualified,” said Jude Byamukama, Ms Akol’s lawyer.