Speaker Among finds self in spot of bother

In March 2023, the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) issued a disbursement voucher which indicated that the Speaker of Parliament, Ms Anita Among, was among the government officials who had received 500 pieces of iron sheets which were meant for vulnerable people in Karamoja Sub-region.

Speaker Among swiftly denied any wrongdoing, claiming that she had directed that the iron sheets be distributed to government-funded schools in her backyard in Bukedea District. Now that she was aware that the iron sheets were meant for one of the poorest sub-regions in the country, her staff was under express orders to return the iron sheets. 

Many top-ranking officials in the Executive would be implicated. A criminal inquiry that President Museveni ordered, however, only resulted in three ministers—Mary Goretti Kitutu, Agness Nandutu and Amos Lugoloobi—making court appearances. Speaker Among was among the top officials who never made it to a charge sheet despite being caught in the so-called Mabaatigate web.

In fact, President Museveni defended the House Speaker, saying: “It’s traitors who are working for foreigners, but moreover working for bad types of foreigners like homosexuals and imperialists, who want Africans to be slaves again. How can you talk so much on social media about Among? How about those foreigners?” 

This week, the United Kingdom (UK) sanctioned Speaker Among alongside Ms Kitutu and Ms Nandutu, who were previously dropped from running point on the Karamoja docket as senior and junior minister respectively.

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

Imperialism

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

“Some of these actors in the Western world overestimate themselves and underestimate the freedom fighters of Africa. On account of some of the freedom fighters making mistakes of philosophy, ideology and strategy, some of the foreign actors, erroneously think that African countries cannot move forward without their support,” Mr Museveni said last year, adding, “As far as Uganda is concerned, we have the capacity to achieve our growth and transformation targets; even if some of the actors do not support us.”

The President also listed eight points that in his considered view can steer Uganda in the right direction. They include “not following politics of identity but following politics of interests; supporting the private sector; economic infrastructure development to lower the costs of doing business in the economy; regional integration to create big markets that can absorb our products; working with foreigners who respect us; eliminate corruption; social infrastructure to develop the human resource through universal education and health, and protecting the environment that controls our water and our rain.”  

Mr Jimmy Spire Ssentongo, a philosophy lecturer at Makerere University, said caution should be the byword. He added: “When you hear an African ‘leader’ calling out imperialists, you feel the suspicious need to ask yourself: ‘What is he/she trying to hide/silence/deflect this time?’ As such, by often using imperialism as a scapegoat and thereby making the public suspicious about such talk, those ‘leaders’ have become a problem in the fight against the real ‘imperialism’.” 

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

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

Ms Winnie Byanyima, the executive director of the United Nations Programme on HIV/Aids (UNAIDS), urged “the UK [government] to follow through consistently and ambitiously.”

The House in which Ms Byanyima once served as a lawmaker said the county “has regulatory, investigatory and disciplinary institutions that deal with corruption.”

Mr Chris Obore, its spokesperson, said the aforesaid have not “found the Speaker culpable.” 

Although Parliament insists that Ms Among is a victim of Western intervention, her tenure both as Deputy Speaker and Speaker has not been without incidents that stick out like the metaphorical sore thumb. The race that pitted her against Mr Thomas Tayebwa for the deputy speakership particularly stands out. Ms Among ended up being elected Deputy Speaker and Jacob Oulanyah (RIP) Speaker.

Accusations

Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda, the Kira Municipality lawmaker who contested for Speakership and ended up getting only 15 votes, was one of the people to accuse Among of bribing voters. Mr Ssemujju was puzzled by the elections calculus. Forum for Democratic Change’s Yusuf Nsibambi, who was Among’s rival, got 35 votes; yet the Opposition at the time had about 109 of the 529 seats in the 11th Parliament. 

“Many of these MPs are my friends. It’s not that they don’t like me, but it’s politics gone bad. I saw people say ‘people power, our power’; they should have said ‘people money, our money’. You can say Ssemujju is very bad and that [Rebecca] Kadaga has taken on Museveni, but Anita Among of the NRM, what was the justification for voting for her?” Mr Ssemujju asked. 

Ms Kadaga unsuccessfully locked horns with Oulanyah for the House speakership.

Six months after being sworn in as the Deputy Speaker, Ms Among attracted unnecessary attention after Mr Moses Bigirwa was arrested while in her neighbourhood. Evidence suggested that the NUP lawmaker was attempting to extort Shs100 million from the erstwhile Deputy Speaker.

The information Bigirwa hoped to use to extort the Shs100 million, the prosecutors would later reveal, included bribes from Roko Construction, bribes from property deals, and proof that the Internal Security Organisation (ISO) was used to con investors. The State initially argued that this was intended to disturb the peace or right to privacy of Ms Among with no purpose of legitimate communication. It later dropped the case.

Unheard electoral petition

Ms Among’s electoral victory in Bukedea District was also shrouded in mystery. She became the district’s woman representative after the Electoral Commission nullified the candidature of her would-be rival, Hellen Akol. Ms Akol was impeded from challenging Ms Among after Umar Okodel petitioned the High Court. Mr Okodel asked the court to stop Ms Akol from being nominated on grounds that there were discrepancies in her name.

The High Court in Soroti City under the stewardship of Justice Wilson Masalu Musene, who has since died, agreed with Mr Okodel that Ms Akol couldn’t be nominated because she had changed her name from “Hellen Akol” which was on the voter’s register to Hellen Akol Odeke.  Although Ms Akol had sworn a deed poll, indicating a change of name, Justice Masalu said she had done it illegally. 

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

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

“Court of Appeal dubiously claimed that they couldn’t degazette Anita [Among] as unopposed without hearing her yet this is unnecessary.  The Parliamentary Elections Act requires degazetting any unopposed candidate if another candidate is subsequently approved as having been unlawfully disqualified,” Jude Byamukama, Ms Akol’s lawyer, said.  

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