The Minister of Gender, Labour and Social Development, Ms Betty Amongi, has accused Speaker Anita Among and Health Minister Dr Jane Ruth Aceng of orchestrating electoral malpractice in Lira City’s parliamentary elections.
Ms Amongi alleged that Speaker of Parliament, Ms Anita Among, mobilised Shs4.2 billion and over 10 buses of people to bribe voters and manipulate ballots in favour of Dr Aceng.
The gender minister and outgoing Oyam South MP, contested on the Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) party ticket to uproot Dr Aceng of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) from Lira City Woman Parliamentary seat.
Speaking on a local radio station in Lira City on January 19, Ms Amongi claimed that soldiers were involved in marking ballots, with one soldier admitting to ticking 2,000 ballots for Dr Aceng.
Also, she pointed to irregularities in polling stations, citing abnormally high vote counts for Dr Aceng.
However, UPDF 5 Infantry Division Public Information Officer, Capt Ibrahim Kasule Sekitto, has dismissed these claims as “bogus”.
He explained that soldiers seen at polling stations were there to exercise their right to vote, not to engage in ballot stuffing.
“They voted for the candidate of their choice, one vote per soldier, at a polling station where they were registered,” Capt Kasule told our reporter on the phone on Wednesday, January 21, 2026, adding that soldiers cast their votes peacefully from Lango Quran Primary School, Lira Army Primary School, Senior Quarters, and Railways polling stations.
The UPDF 5 Infantry Division Public Information Officer emphasized that the elections were conducted without incident, with soldiers voting for their preferred candidate, including Dr Aceng.
Asked how many UPDF soldiers were present in Lira before and during the January 15 parliamentary and presidential polls, Capt Kasule Sekitto responded: ‘Actually, we had a good number but not all voted. Like for me when I was transferred here in December they had already finished updating the voter register. I was unable to vote because I was registered in Kampala.’
He also said during that time of parliamentary and presidential elections, UPDF soldiers were in Lira City to celebrate Taresita.
He further explained that in order to join Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF), you should be a Ugandan and you should be aged 18 and above. And those who vote in an election are also Ugandans aged 18 and above.
‘And being in the military doesn’t take away your right to vote. During the registration of voters, someone registers where he works or originates from. As UPDF in 5 Division, we voted in Lira City because we were registered voters and we were in the Electoral Commission’s register,’ said the 5 Infantry Division Public Information Officer.
‘We never did anything wrong. We did what was within the law and what UPDF soldiers are supposed to do.’
The Speaker and Parliament’s director of communications and public affairs, Mr Chris Obore, did not pick our calls to their known mobile numbers.
Prior to the January 15 polls, the Speaker of Parliament asked President Yoweri Museveni to remove Ms Amongi from the Lira City Woman Parliamentary race.
While acknowledging that some opposition members genuinely support the NRM and its ideology, the Speaker cautioned the President against being overly accommodating, warning that excessive leniency could be politically costly.
The Speaker urged the President to exercise his authority as the appointing authority to compel Ms Amongi to step aside from the parliamentary contest.
“I am speaking as the second national vice chairperson. I know I am your vice but I must do work for you to get a good party. We cannot continue hobnobbing with people who do not believe in us and I want to thank the UPC members who love us genuinely. And Your Excellency, I want to thank you for believing in the politics of ideology and not identity,’ Ms Among told the President at a rally in Lira City on January 8.
Aceng’s response
Dr Aceng, has however, denied the allegations, attributing her victory to voters’ trust in her leadership. Ms Amongi polled 26,199 votes against Aceng’s 38,074 votes, according to data from Electoral Commission.
In her address on January 16, Dr Aceng framed the success not merely as a political win but as a spiritual triumph, emphasizing that “there is no battle that God can never win.”
She asserted that the outcome serves as a testament to the people of Lira City regarding the power of the Almighty God she serves, dismissing the negativity and attacks from her opposition.
‘There is no battle that God can never win. And today, this day, I believe the people of Lira now know there is a God that I serve, a God in heaven that I serve. And be it known to you, my opponents, and to all the people of Lira City, there is a God in heaven, the almighty God. We serve Him,’ said the Minister of Health.
Dr Aceng also said she defeated her opponent because of her workable and beautiful manifesto.
‘First of all, we are protecting our gains. And we have a lot to protect in all sectors, because there is so much that the NRM government has done. First of all, giving us a city alone is a gain that we have to protect,’ she added.
‘And all the developments that we see in the city, including the roads, water, electricity, the health facilities, the gains in the agricultural sector, education, all those are gains that we must protect.’
Moving forward, as Uganda makes that qualitative leap into the upper-middle income country, Dr Aceng said the elected NRM leaders are going to run the risk to ensure that they move citizens out of poverty . into the upper-middle income country. Meaning, that everyone who was living below the poverty line and on the poverty line has to have money in their pocket.
But Ms Amongi has vowed not to recognise Dr Aceng as the legitimate legislator.
‘Dr Jane Ruth Aceng is not our Member of Parliament as the people of Lira City. She will remain a Member of Parliament for those who planned for her cheating and she can never have peace and respect in the Lango Sub-region because she is not an elected Member of Parliament,’ said Ms Amongi.
She added: ‘I cannot transact business with a criminal and we shall not disappear from the politics of this country.’
Mr Patrick Odongo, alias Odongo Lango, who is a member of NRM, also Dr Aceng’s supporter, said Ms Amongi should never blame anybody for her loss.
‘It’s an open secret that no love has been lost between Amongi and Speaker Among. Readers must remember how Anita, in a cleverly worded question in Bukedea, exposed the incompetence of Amongi in providing political oversight of the Generating Growth Opportunities and Productivity for Women Enterprises (GROW) project,’ he said.
Mr Odongo added: ‘Speaker Anita Among didn’t relent. At the official campaign rally of the President at Lira Golf Course (January 8), Anita Among took it a notch higher. She questioned why Betty Amongi, a cabinet minister, bound by collective responsibility, must use resources from the NRM government to fight her fellow minister. Anita vowed to camp in Lira City to ensure that Dr Jane wins her elections.’
Mr Chris Obore, Parliament’s director of communications and public affairs, said the Speaker Among has no personal interest in Lango parliamentary seats but she has NRM party interests there as the second national vice chairperson (female).
He said Among’s involvement in Lango was to the extent of mobilising NRM party leaders and supporters to vote for the President and NRM flag bearers.
‘It is illusionary to believe that the Speaker or anyone ferried voters from elsewhere in buses because the people of Lango know themselves, therefore; would not allow non-residents to vote,’ Mr Obore said via text message on Wednesday.
He added: ‘Besides, on voting day, the Speaker was very busy in Bukedea ensuring the President’s votes were safe. The issue of money is an exaggeration because voters know leaders they want and no amount of money can fail people whose ideas are already formed. And to spend Shs4.2 billion in one constituency is a joke of the year because that amount is easier talked about than actually spent. It is too much money.’