By APN Reporter
apearlnews.com
“Even if your position on a political issue was wrong yesterday, once you changed to a correct and you take good position, I welcome you,”President Yoweri Museveni once said while closing the first Movement conference held on July 17th 1998.
Perhaps this has been the strategic political strength as to why he has successfully managed his political opponents and maintain his leadership for over 35 years and nowander several opposition politicians are often appointed to prominent government roles and responsibilities.
In 2016, President Museveni teamed up with the Uganda People’s Congress party during the campaign,a move that saw NRM severely trouncing FDC Col Kiza Besigye in the general election.
During the 2016 campaigns, President Museveni was joined by the then Kole district Woman Mp Joy Ruth Aceng who accompanied him to all his campaign rallies across the Country.
This was the first time a serving opposition Mp was seen openly campaigning for the ruling NRM, in fact, she lost her seat since she had spent much time campaigning outside the region for Museveni.
In what started as a simple political support for NRM soon saw President Museveni trusting Aceng and subsequently fully recruited her into the NRM power.
Indeed after the election, President Museveni opted to drop the then Minister of State for Northern Uganda, Rebecca Otengo when she lost her seat among others from the cabinet and instead appointed Amb Aceng as the State Minister for Fisheries and others from Lango but her appointment was outrightly fought by a group of NRM until she was dropped.
It’s on record that a section of NRM leaders from Lango while meeting President Museveni at State House Entebbe demanded for Aceng’s removal from Cabinet accusing him of favoring UPC leaders.
President Museveni subsequently dropped her and maintained Col Engola,Betty Amongi, and Dr. Ruth Aceng, a move that angered Lango Cultural leaders.
A few weeks later, President Museveni again appointed Aceng as Uganda’s Envoy to Ottawa (Canada), and deployed former Minister Otengo to Ethiopia but this still did not go down well with several groups including a former Minister from Lango who had been ignored by the President
HER RECENT WAR
It should be recalled that towards the 2021 campaign, President Museveni entrusted Amb Aceng to coordinate and gunner votes for NRM and subsequently accompanied him to his various rallies across the country as she did in 2016.
This move reportedly angered some leaders including her colleague Amb Rebecca Otengo who apparently had also mobilized separate NRM media team members but this was swiftly resolved by NRM media Director Emmanuel Dombo during the campaign.
It’s reported that Aceng’s recent trouble was strategically planned and executed by a female Ambassador who had been terribly disturbed by her growing political trust from the President.
Another source revealed that this same former Minister was for long angered by President Museveni’s decision to deploy her in a third-world country and instead deployed Amb Aceng whom she considered junior to a first-world country by ranking.
We have also established that a young boy and a “dependant” to this same former Minister now Ambassador was once deployed at the home of Amb Aceng apparently to spy on her.
A source revealed that this boy who was studying at MUK reportedly approached Amb Aceng pretending to be seeking where to stay yet he was on a spy mission and soon after allegedly completing his spying task on Amb Aceng , he reportedly left the place.
It’s also established that the dispute against Amb Aceng by some politicians from Lango.
It’s on record that Amb Otengo and Aceng do not see eye to eye much as the two have for long been downplaying it from the public domain.
The source revealed that Otengo’s family has for long and still holding a personal grudge against Amb accusing her of allegedly frustrating the marriage of their Sister only identified as Sarah who was once married to John Ogweng, Aceng’s former husband whom she later separated with due to several clandestine wars against her.
It is also reported that a fierce political dispute has clandestinely been existing between Amb Otengo and the State Minister for Sports, also the Ajuri County Mp Denis Hamson Obua since she lost her parliamentary seat.
In fact, this rift escalated when one of the Otengo’s dependants opted to contest against Mp Obua during NRM Primaries but he was miserably defeated.
There has also been a prominent rift between Otengo and former Minister Sam Engola and Dokolo South Mp Felix Okot over the years.
In August 2012, a group of NRM Cadres led by then NRM youth chairman, Willy Omodo Omodo among others, staged a mega demonstration in Lira town protesting what they termed as manipulation by Amb Otengo against various presidential appointments for key positions including RDCs.
According to Omodo, several members of Amb Otengo’s family are employed in and holding senior positions in government including her sister Mirriam Otengo now working at the Embassy of Uganda in the UK as the Minister-Counselor, Susan Akany now RDC Omoro District among others.
It’s also reported the Mirriam Otengo, a younger sister to Amb Otengo once fought her former husband Amb Dickson Ogwang Okul shortly after separating with him but recently Ogwang was redeployed to Khartoum.
