By Otim Nape
During her address on Sunday during the meeting between NRM Presidential Candidate YK Museveni and grass root party leaders from Lango sub region, ruling party’s 2nd national vice chairperson Speaker Anita Among highlighted the need to engage in the politics of quid pro quo as voters prepare to cast their vote on 15th January.
Anita Among, who had accompanied the Candidate to meet fellow NRM leaders and hear their ideas on how the vote can be consolidated in the remaining few weeks, told the gathering that time had come for priority to go to elected leaders and political cadres who appreciate the good Gen Museveni has done for them personally and for the country.
She castigated leaders who insist on benefiting from Museveni’s benevolent politics (of working with everybody) while publicly decampaigning him at the same time.
Among didn’t directly mention anyone’s name but her message was construed to be one directed at people like Gender Minister Betty Amongi who continues to eat on the Museveni table while at the same time serving as First Lady in UPC, a party whose agenda is to ensure Museveni doesn’t keep the Lango vote anymore.
Her husband Jimmy Akena, who is also the disputed UPC President, has made it his pre-occupation to ensure the Lango vote doesn’t go to Museveni again. It’s understood that Akena desires to see NUP’s Robert Kyagulanyi sweep votes in Lango. Kyagulanyi recently campaigned in Lira City and reciprocated Akena’s endorsement by delivering a fierce speech that aimed at benefiting his wife, Betty Amongi.
He spent a lot of time de-campaigning the NRM Woman MP Candidate for Lira City Jane Ruth Aceng who he implored voters to reject in order to punish her extreme support and loyalty to Gen YK Museveni. Kyagulanyi’s speech inadvertently emboldened Aceng’s support especially among diehard Museveni supporters. The same was taken note of by the intelligence system representatives in Lango sub region and it’s something whose political consequences Amongi might regret some day.
So, in her Sunday speech, Anita Among (who is a long-time friend of Aceng) was clearly targeted at destroying Amongi even without directly mentioning her name. She called on voters to massively vote for Aceng because she is the one who isn’t conflicted in her support for Gen YK Museveni.
She said time had come for elected leaders in Lango to be clear instead of only fraternizing with Museveni while in Kampala, yet they eloquently criticize him while back home in Lango. She asked the veteran leader from Rwakitura to stop his political benevolence and demand for total loyalty as opposed to leaders being lukewarm while demonstrating extreme levels of opportunism.
It remains to be seen how Betty Amongi, who some want to run for Speakership next May, will be pushing back against the Anita Among rhetoric, which clearly was calculated to benefit health Minister Jane Ruth Aceng. The Speaker also disapproved of leaders who abandon home ground to go and antagonize fellow Ministers in their respective constituencies elsewhere. This was reminiscent of Minister Gen Kahinda Otafiire who sometime back drove to Lira City and openly de-campaigned Betty Amongi over similar political nomadism.
Inside UPC, Amongi’s husband Jimmy Akena (who risks joblessness after ceasing to be Lira City East MP in May 2026) faces growing rebellion even within Lango where many congressmen and UPC party leaders have rejected his anti-Museveni rhetoric and have opted to publicly support the re-election of both the President and Aceng as Woman MP Lira City. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
