President Museveni yesterday met with the Speaker Anita Among at State House, Entebbe. Beyond the formal and drab press release about the meeting, no details have emerged about what was actually discussed in the meeting.
There has been speculation on social media that the two could have talked about the rot in Parliament exposed by the #UgandaParliamentExhibition. This, however, has not been confirmed. As Bbeg Media, we also know that President Museveni is the most powerful individual in Uganda and no institution, even Parliament, can stand in his way.
So, we believe that any discussion between the head of the executive and that of the legislature was dominated by the president’s views. It could have centered on these five issues.
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Rot in Parliament
While the two senior leaders cannot claim to be the paragon of integrity, we believe that there must have been a discussion about the misuse of public resources by the House. We suspect this matter must have been raised by Museveni, fearful that the public backlash over the gross mismanagement of resources as exposed by the exhibition could soil his regime. We suspect that the president urged the speaker to ensure that resources are well utilized.
Museveni’s expenditure
In her defence, we suspect the speaker could also have hit back very softly about President Museveni’s growing public expenditure, characterized by persistent requests for supplementary budget. We know that the taxpayer spends roughly Shs 3 billion on the president per day. This money can build two seed primary schools.
Asking for Museveni’s forgiveness
Perhaps Speaker Among could have apologised over the excesses and rot in Parliament and asked for the president’s forgiveness. She could have been genuinely remorseful about some of the actions of Parliament. What we are not sure of is whether her apology was accepted
Speaker’s growing influence
As Bbeg Media, we suspect that Museveni could have called the meeting to help him size up the speaker. Never a person to take anything for granted, the meeting could have given Museveni a measure of Among’s power and influence in relation to his. must have hinted, however indirectly, about the speaker’s growing influence and possibly suggested ways of checking it.
Thanking Among for ‘taming’ the opposition
The president could have used the meeting as an opportunity to thank Among for taming the opposition. Already two senior opposition politicians, Mathias Mpuuga and Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda are on the ropes due to revelations that they partook of public funds in irregular ways. Unlike her predecessors, Among has lavished MPs with money (under Corporate Social Responsibility) and numerous trips compromising many of them. May be the president thanked her for helping him fell some of his critics.
