Minister Namuganza exposes Speaker Anita Among and FUFA Boss Moses Magogo sham marriage

Inside Namuganza, Speaker Among fight

A feisty parliamentary session that supported a censure motion against the minister of state for Housing Persis Namuganza has brought into public view a potentially damaging feud between the under-fire minister and Speaker of Parliament Anita Annet Among.

Unless President Museveni gets heavily involved, MPs are baying for Namuganza’s blood. She will ‘surely be censured,’ vowed several members of parliament from across the political aisle interviewed by The Observer newspaper recently. According to the MPs, there are very few colleagues willing to defend Namuganza.

Their motives vary, but many hate the minister’s character, and others are afraid to go against the wishes of a towering figure in the house who is wielding power ruthlessly to get the minister kicked out.

According to our sources, speaker of parliament Among has a personal interest in Namuganza’s downfall. And there are very few MPs who can cross the speaker’s path. Many MPs from across the political divide venerate the speaker because of the strong grip she has on parliamentary management.

“If you are not in good books with the speaker, you will not get trips, which are the lifeline of many MPs. Even talking on the floor these days has been weaponized. If you are seen to be fighting the speaker, just know that your welfare issues will not be addressed. You will always struggle to speak on the floor,” an MP who declined to be named to speak freely, said.

So, in any fight, whether personal or not, between the speaker and anybody, many MPs are likely to side with her.

“You know there is a big fight among Museveni’s women. They are all fighting for his attention. Each one wants to be the only one with Museveni’s ear. Do you know that Among is also fighting Nabbanja Robinah, the prime minister] and Alupo [Jessica, the vice president]? Surely, parliament has been sucked into a personal fight,” the MP said.

In her submission before the plenary session, which debated and finally adopted the report recommending her censure last week, Namuganza hinted at the real reason she is facing a censure motion. She said her censure has everything to do with the marriage between the speaker and Moses Magogo, the Budiope East MP and Fufa president.

She promised to move a motion in the future against the speaker and Magogo, whom she accused of procuring a fraudulent marriage. Parliament never allowed her to elaborate on the matter, but in an interview with NBS television, she let the cat out of the bag.

“Among has a personal interest in this. She procured a fraudulent marriage with the so-called husband; you know, a husband is defined legally. They went and attacked my husband because he is a civil servant and forced him to sign papers. They were not there [physically]; they sent their security team, and they made him sign under duress. And after what happened, he reported to security and rescinded the marriage,” she said, adding, “They sent several people intimidating him that he must sign to retract the papers that were rescinding the marriage. We have brought the matter to the attention of the president, and he has directed CID to investigate. My husband has already made a statement, but she [speaker] has been sending messages intimidating him, saying how I’m going to punish your wife, and we have proof,” Namuganza said.