By Mulengera Reporters
On Monday, PFF Secretary General Semujju Nganda was interviewed by Joseph Sseruwoza, a BBS TV journalist. The interview touched on a multiplicity of subjects including the ongoing turbulence drowning former Speaker Anita Among.
Semujju, who has closely dealt with Parliament for over 30 years, said Anita Among will be remembered in history as the worst Speaker the Ugandan Parliament ever had. He made it clear there is no way she would have ascended the office of Speaker in a normal country and that he wasn’t among those who ever got surprised over the way her reign ended-in extreme humiliation and demystification.
He said, much as all Speakers always served the interests of President Museveni, none of them was ever synonymous with so much mediocrity and such low standards as Anita Among. He said Among couldn’t even properly do basic things such as processing MPs’ collective decisions on any matter.
“Majority would clearly say nay and as presiding officer, Anita Among would say the ayes have it,” Semujju told Sseruwoza in the Monday interview conducted at his PFF offices in Nakasero. That to be an effective Speaker, even in the crude service of Gen Museveni’s personal interests, one requires basic sophistication, which Anita Among clearly lacked. He made it clear that Uganda was such a very unlucky country to have ever had to put on with such an incompetent Speaker for 5 years.
Ssemujju explained that lack of sophistication prevented Anita Among from understanding what amounts to a red line for Museveni, even when she was able to relate with him at such close range. He said one of the things which frighten Museveni and cause him to determine to destroy someone is any protégé’s indulgence in extreme ostentation and displaying of political might.
He said that Museveni can never be comfortable with a Speaker who comes off as influential and popular among MPs. That this exactly is what caused problems for James Waphakabhulo, Rebecca Kadaga and former VP Gilbert Bukenya. He says that, if she was clever, Anita Among ought to have borrowed Edward Sekandi’s script and avoided coming off as powerful among MPs.
Besides predicting that Oboth-Oboth will end up being more sycophantic than even Sekandi was, Ssemujju Nganda admitted he never expected Anita Among’s political downfall to come this fast. He was among those who were conc sure she would be Speaker up to 2031. He observed that today’s Museveni is 80 and more and a very paranoid old man who is very unwilling to tolerate emergency of any alternative power centers. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
