By CHANGE OF GUARDS
“I have heard some people saying Anita must resign. Resign and go where? I only have two terms to serve. When I finish my five years in the next term, I will hand over to my young brother Tomas because it’s not good to cling to power. These MPs are not accounting officers; we don’t account. The stealing does not start from Parliament. Let us not demonize Parliament. Uganda has three arms of government, and the legislature, which I head, needs to be protected. Your Excellency, please, protect the legislature. “Speaker Anita Among, in Mitooma on July 28, 2024.
Close to two months now, Museveni has turned the institution of Parliament into his punching bag. In his attempt to divert public attention from the endemic corruption, misuse, and wanton plunder of public resources by his government, he has chosen to scapegoat the institution of Parliament. He has accused it of extravagance and wastage of public resources. He has arrested a number of Members of Parliament on charges of corruption. Using a dozen youth, the regime stage-managed a peaceful protest against the Speaker of Parliament. Yet, he has been the topmost briber of these very MPs whenever he wants his autocratic schemes to sail through. Recently, he even publicly applauded the Speaker for being a conduit for his bribes to opposition MPs. Unlike the previous speakers, she is on record for excelling in enabling Museveni to turn the institution into a rubber stamp.
However, for obvious reasons, it is clear that Museveni’s preferred choice for Speaker has always been her Deputy, Tomas Tayebwa. In this regard, Museveni is trying to pressure Anita Among into resigning so that Tomas Tayebwa can assume office. The institution of Parliament, and in particular Speaker Among, is not clean, but she is not the center of corruption and abuse of public resources. Moreover, Parliament is only allotted 900 billion shillings out of the 72 trillion annual budget. Interestingly, Museveni’s State House is allotted 802 billion shillings. Speaker Anita Among is well aware that last week’s protests were orchestrated by the Museveni regime in a wider scheme to push her into resignation. That is why she has run out of patience and opted to tell off Museveni that corruption and misuse of public resources are orchestrated by the executive. She used the occasion in Mitooma to publicly express her frustration, disgust, disappointment, and anger.
INFORMATION IS POWER AND THE PROBLEM OF UGANDA IS MUSEVENISM
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