By Mulengera Reporters
PFF Secretary General Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda vigorously pushed back against journalist Peter Kibaazo’s view during a special edition of Radio Simba’s Lutindo/Bridge program.
Kibaazo quoted what Andrew Mwenda, Robert Kabushenga and Charles Onyango Obbo said during a recent episode of their Bad Natives podcast-to the effect that Anita Among was currently the most powerful politician in Uganda after Gen YK Museveni.
Kibaazo said that he believed the trio because as far as he knows Anita Among, the Speaker of Parliament, was indeed having firm control over all spheres of life in Uganda except the military and intelligence. Kibaazo also claimed that members of the Police leadership at Naguru these days fear Anita Among more than Gen Kahinda Otafiire who is their line minister of internal affairs.
Renowned for being deeply knowledgeable about the history of politics in the Museveni universe right from the days of NRA bush war, Semujju Nganda rejected all this as untrue and mere exaggerations. He said that Anita Among is like volunteers who participate in the skinning of the cow and subsequently become entitled to something which in Luganda is called kabuyi (that fatty content that remains on the cow’s skin after the slaughtering has been done).
“She badly wants a second term as Speaker and has to do all she can to assure herself of Museveni’s support. Let me tell you Peter; in that NRM you have a lot of people who deploy themselves to do things which can make you think they are very powerful yet in actual sense, they are just trying to make themselves relevant infront of Museveni and other real wielders of power. This is akin to what Mike Mukula did one time when he went to Rwanda to talk to Kagame demanding that he must reconcile with Museveni only to get blasted in a subsequent NRM CEC meeting where Museveni demanded to know the capacity in which he was acting,” Semujju responded to Kibaazo’s claim that mere coordinating the signing of MoUs between NRM and independent MPs meant that Anita Among was now the political furculum on which power and decision making inside NRM is pivoting these days.
Kibaazo also cited the confidence with which Anita Among recently assured Asuman Basalirwa of a government job, which she said he will be getting soon as evidence of a speaker who had become too powerful.
“Why would she be building a personal hospital in Bukedea and name its wards after family members of Museveni even when they are clearly not interested in such pampering, if she is indeed very powerful as you say? Why would be buying herself to them? Peter, I know that you know these things too and that you are much better than this. You are only asking such questions maybe for the benefit of the listeners.”
Semujju Nganda referred to people who over the years Gen Museveni genuinely loved and generously set out to render very powerful. He referred to Gen Kale Kayihura who wielded real power and autonomously made decisions on virtually everything, not just Police-related, for all the years he served as IGP. He said Anita Among doesn’t wield even a small fraction of the power Gen KK had in his hey days.
Semujju Nganda added that the fallen army commander Gen James Kaziini wielded even much more power because the President would even surrender his Presidential jet and convoy for him to travel in.
Semujju Nganda also referred to former super minister and NRM Secretary General Amama Mbabazi saying those guys would make decisions for the good of the country even without having to first secure Museveni’s consent. “They would brief him later and they had real power. They never had to buy themselves [okwegula in Luganda] to anyone in Museveni’s family. They didn’t have to seek favours of Museveni’s children, brother or even wife.”
Saying these were real stakeholders, whose even Museveni recognized and respected, Semujju Nganda said that the above big men wielded as much power in Museveni’s Uganda as Janet Kataha, Muhoozi Kainerugaba and Salim Saleh currently do in contemporary Uganda.
Semujju added thus: “I give credit to Honourable Kataha because although she doesn’t show it anywhere, she holds so much power to the extent that even if Museveni, Saleh and Muhoozi sat and agreed to give you a government job, she can veto that and nothing will happen. Even when it comes to the vetting of the Ministers by Parliament, Anita Among, who you say is very powerful, just organizes a projector for her [Janet] to beam her face on. She only says ‘Mama we don’t have any questions for you. We just wanted to look at you to know if you are okay this morning. We also needed this opportunity to thank you for taking good care of Mzee.”
And “that was all about her vetting,” Semujju Nganda further explained purporting to paraphrase Anita Among’s words, to the powerful Janet, in her capacity as the Chairperson for the Appointments Committee of Parliament. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
