Stuff Betty Amongi Shouldn’t Get Away With During NBS Interview

The NBS TV is soon hosting outgoing Uganda’s gender minister Betty Amongi. But as they do, there are things, the tough questions, which must be put to Amongi so that she tackles them head-on, on national TV.

Immediately after losing the Lira woman MP race, she demonized the speaker of parliament Anita Among, accusing her of orchestrating vote rigging and election offences. She must be tasked to explain why up to this day; she hasn’t formally filed a case or a complaint to the president or the EC against Among. Otherwise, those listening to her will conclude that she is merely bluffing and being a bad loser instead of accepting defeat in good grace.

Amongi also soiled the good image of Uganda’s security forces and more so the mighty UPDF, whose officers and men she claims where smuggled into Lira city and overwhelmingly voted for her opponent. This, if true, is good evidence which can boost her election petition against Dr. Aceng, yet she hasn’t filed any!

This can only be because she is either telling blatant lies or is a minister who serves in a government whose judicial system she doesn’t believe in as a capable arbiter of all manner of disputes. For demonizing the mighty UPDF, at the time the president’s son Gen MK is its head serving as CDF, Betty Amongi dug her own political grave, moreover making unfounded claims based on mere fiction and character-assassination motives.

Betty Amongi, some of whose supporters attempted violence and other forms of electoral mischief but were overwhelmed, must have herself to blame because she was warned about the ‘Beatrice Wabudeya political debacle’ but she disregarded the free advice because she had been blinded by political pride and arrogancy. Voters in Uganda have always punished such political pride of leaders abandoning their own political constituencies to go and destroy political stars elsewhere.

Amongi was bound to be politically disciplined and punished by Lango voters in exactly the same way the Bagisu voters did in 2011 to then presidency minister Beatrice Wabudeya who abandoned her safe Sironko woman MP seat for Budadiri west where she maliciously tried to destroy the politics of Nandala Mafabi.

So, the UPC first lady, who doesn’t stand much chance to ever rise again in the politics of Lango, has herself to blame and no one else. She should eat a humble pie and lie low like an envelope and stop those things of blaming Anita Among and the mighty UPDF. She says she is a lawyer, which is why she must now accept that the political train of Lango long left the station, and go into self employment by opening her own law firm.

As to why she doesn’t go to court to use what she claims to be overwhelming evidence of electoral injustice in the Lira city woman MP race, is something whoever will be moderating the NBS interview must put to her and demand that Amongi unequivocally explains herself. There should be no equivocation.

She also ought to explain herself on the progress being made on efforts to help her reconcile with her husband Jimmy Akena’s spouses, basically Milton Obote’s children, who are clearly uncomfortable about continuing to have her serve as the first lady of the party Milton founded. There have also been claims of domestic violence and quarrels involving Akena, which would be in order for her to clarify upon.

One only hopes that the moderator will have the guts and the prudence to require her to unambiguously clarify on the very serious claims that Dr. Aceng recently made about her, which instantly went viral on social media.

It will also be prudent to require her to respond to claims that officials at her gender ministry fraudulently altered the president’s October 2022 directive on the Kampiringisa land and gave Intracom, the fertilizer maker from Burundi, 100 acres instead of the 30 the president had directed in writing.

There are claims that rogue-minded officials at the said ministry are on the verge of criminally sharing the remaining 30 acres among themselves, having failed to extract anything else from the Burundian investor in whose favour the finance ministry is about to release Ugx80bn to facilitate the importation of hundreds of tons of organic fertilizers which will be distributed to thousands of Ugandan farmers free of charge.