Minister Amongi blames election loss on Speaker Among

Amongi alleged that the Speaker mobilised soldiers and resources to ensure she failed at the polls.

The Minister of Gender, Labour and Social Development, Betty Amongi, has publicly blamed her defeat in last week’s parliamentary elections on alleged interference by Speaker of Parliament Anitah Among.

Appearing on Voice of Lango on Monday night, Amongi claimed that her Oyam South MP seat was lost to fellow minister Dr Jane Ruth Aceng — the Health Minister and incumbent Lira City Woman MP — due to orchestrated vote manipulation and undue influence.

“Our votes were stolen. No one in Uganda does not know this. The Speaker of Parliament, Anitah Among, openly told the President that they did not want me to go to Parliament,” alleged the minister and wife to UPC President Jimmy Akena

“I am also a threat to her. I did not just contest against Aceng; I contested against the Speaker of Parliament herself.”

Amongi alleged that the Speaker mobilised soldiers and resources to ensure she failed at the polls.

The soldiers, she said, ticked thousands of ballots for Aceng across several polling areas, including Odokomit, Ngetta and Boke, and that the Speaker brought over ten buses of people and cash to sway voters

“The Speaker of Parliament mobilized soldiers to ensure that I failed. She came to Lango with Shs 4.2 billion. On Wednesday, prior to the Thursday elections, she arrived with more than ten buses of people to help distribute money and to assist in ticking ballots.”

Aceng’s victory and official figures

In response, Dr Jane Ruth Aceng — speaking on the same programme — thanked voters in the Lango sub-region for returning her to Parliament.

Aceng cited official figures indicating that out of about 64,000 voters who turned up, she secured over 38,900 votes to Amongi’s roughly 27,000, a margin of nearly 11,900 votes. Aceng dismissed claims of irregularities, focusing instead on the electorate’s choice and her service to her constituents.

Official results from Uganda’s general elections on 15 January 2026 confirm that Aceng, contesting on the National Resistance Movement (NRM) ticket, defeated Amongi, who ran on the Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) ticket, with Aceng polling around 38,000 votes to Amongi’s 26,199.

The outcome was seen as a surprise by some political analysts, given Amongi’s roots in the Lango sub-region and her long parliamentary career, including representing Oyam South since 2021.

Amongi’s decision to leave her Oyam South constituency to challenge Aceng in Lira City was noted early in the campaign, with observers describing the race as one of the most closely watched in the region.

Prior to the polls, both ministers had launched vigorous campaigns, with Aceng emphasising peace and development and Amongi highlighting her vision for representation and change.