What the former Speaker of Parliament, Anita Annet Among, who happens to be a daughter of Teso, has done is a total shame to the Iteso and the Ateker cluster.
I am now beginning to understand why previous regimes never trusted the Iteso with big positions.
Right from colonial times through the regimes of Mutesa I and II, Obote I and II, Idi Amin, Binaisa, and Tito Okello Lutwa, there was no Muteso who was made Vice President, Speaker, Deputy Chief of Defence Forces, Bank of Uganda Governor, Auditor General, ISO Director, or appointed to many other commissioner positions. It is only President Museveni’s government that remembered the Iteso, but look at what Anita Among has brought to Teso.
The problem with some Iteso is greed. A Muteso will fuel his car with Shs700,000 and drive 500km to bury a fellow Muteso who may have died because he lacked Shs100,000 for treatment.
Look at the boxes and sacks of money reportedly recovered from the residence of Anita Among. What use was that money there when Ugandans have poor roads, mothers dying due to lack of oxygen in hospitals, and schools facing challenges of accommodation and classrooms?
I have now noted that 87% of the previous budgets passed in Parliament may have silently ended up in Anita Among’s home.
No wonder the President himself left State House to move around the country to assess the impact of the Parish Development Model, because it is only in his government that an ordinary villager was able to get Shs1 million, yet poverty still remained and many people missed out on PDM funds. I have now concluded that the money may have ended up in Among’s home.
I am writing this with a lot of pain inside me. Everywhere an Iteso person goes, other tribes say “the Iteso are in things.” I want to make it clear that whatever benefits Anita Among got from being Speaker were for herself, not for the entire Teso region.
If Among truly loved Teso, she could have built that stadium on government land so that it would become public property. Instead, she built it on her privately licensed land. How then can that be considered property for the people of Teso?
She built a school and a hospital, but they are not truly for ordinary people in Teso. The school fees alone are not favorable to the lifestyle of a poor Muteso. Fees reportedly reach Shs1.5 million, and students must pay 80% before reporting to school. At the hospital, even operating on a mother who fails to deliver naturally reportedly requires Shs800,000 cash before treatment. How does that help the Iteso?
In fact, whatever has reportedly been recovered, and is still being recovered, from Anita Among’s homes is said to be beyond billions — possibly trillions.
What pains me most is whether President Museveni will ever trust the Iteso again. Remember that Rt. Hon. Edward Ssekandi served in that office for 10 years and left without any raid at his home, leaving the Baganda name clean. Rt. Hon. Rebecca Alitwala Kadaga also served as Speaker for 10 years without any raid at her home, leaving the Basoga name respected. The late Rt. Hon. Jacob Oulanyah also served honorably before his death, and the Acholi name remained respected. But look at what Anita has done in just five years — she has placed the name of the Iteso in total darkness.
I want to assure the people of Teso that whoever thinks our name is still clean should forget it. We were given many positions with the hope of developing the region, but instead one of us allegedly stole and turned boxes of money into a boutique inside containers. It is too painful.
As the saying goes, one bad frog spoils the whole water. Dear Anita, you have spoiled opportunities for many Iteso people from being entrusted with important positions in this country.
You have caused many people to view the Iteso as corrupt because of greed.
You even refused to get married in Teso because you knew very well that no Muteso man would accept keeping such money in his home, so you went to Busoga away from Teso.
I want to ask President Museveni: please, Mzee, if any Iteso leader is involved in Among’s saga, let them be arrested and prosecuted so that the Iteso name remains clean.
The Iteso are patient people. They lost their livestock, yet they continued respecting you as their leader until compensation efforts began. They voted for you, so please continue trusting them. Remove the name of Anita Among from your list of exemplary Iteso leaders and instead place her among those who have betrayed the country, because her intentions appear questionable.
Please, Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, our leader, forgive us the Iteso. That is not how the Iteso are. I fear that even lower-ranking officials from Teso working in different departments may now be viewed as corrupt.
The writer, Steven Ariong, is a senior veteran journalist.
