HUNTER POLITICS I URN: The exiled Uganda Law Society President, Isaac Ssemakadde, has questioned the timing of alleged corruption and money laundering by the outgoing Speaker, Annet Anita Among.
In a statement issued on Saturday, Ssemakadde said that Speaker Among is not a saint. He noted that the Executive’s reaction to her second term bid is not about accountability or reform.
“By launching corruption probes at the exact moment Speaker Among seeks re-election, the Museveni regime exposes its true aim: entrenching one-man rule, dismantling rival power centres, and recycling patronage networks,” said Ssemakadde, who has in the past expressed reservations about the state of affairs at Parliament under Among’s leadership.
The statement was in reaction to the joint security search at Anita Among’s residence throughout Saturday.
“It is a textbook purge tactic for sustaining personalist rule. The televised raid on her home further compounds this abuse by weaponizing state power to violate privacy and stage public humiliation in lieu of due process,” reads the statement.
Ssemakadde said Ugandans must rise above personal hatred and partisan animosity towards Speaker Among, and firmly reject what he described as the dangerous normalization of one-man rule.
“If we truly desire a constitutional republic governed by law rather than one man’s whims, we cannot stay silent as the fight against corruption is weaponized to manipulate public anger for political ends,” he stated.
He suggested the need to organize, speak out boldly, and act decisively to restore separation of powers, parliamentary independence, and the rule of law before personal rule becomes permanently entrenched.
“The time for concerted citizen action is now here,” he said.
