Minister Amongi, Dr. Aceng’s Bitter Fight Takes Dirty Shape

“Lango Onote Group”, a local social media forum (WhatsApp) that discusses both local, national, and regional politics, security, and social-economic matters, has lately been dominated by the daily discussion about the fight between Ministers Betty Amongi and Dr. Jane Aceng Ochero, both hailing from the sub region.

This forum hosts over 700 sons and daughters of Lango, including senior government officials in security, intelligence, politics, academia, business, religion, and culture, among others.

The bitter fight between the two senior ministers, which has continued to take on a dirty shape, started in the cabinet when Amongi reportedly accused Dr. Aceng of misinforming the President on Lango political affairs.

According to a source, Minister Amongi accused her of blatantly informing the President how she had successfully dislodged UPC politics from Lira City and politically displaced Obote’s family from Lango politics.

A highly placed intelligence source attributed the fight to the battle for supremacy (who is who) and individual struggle for trust from the appointing authority to determine who wields more state power than the other.

Both Amongi (Mua-Otiratok clan) and Dr. Aceng(Arak-Ochola) hail from Oyam South in Oyam district.

“The fight between the two ministers dates back to 2016. Do you recall when the late Minister Col. Engola Macodwogo attacked and reported Minister Amongi to President Museveni during a Thanksgiving ceremony at Iceme P.7? That was just a hint of the ongoing fight between Amongi and Aceng. Apparently, the late Engola had teamed up with Dr. Aceng against her,” said the source.

The fight escalated when Amongi’s family business associates in Lira City who had been managing their boda-boda loan scheme were allegedly influenced by Dr. Aceng’s team to abandon the project, a move that caused huge financial losses amounting to about a billion shilling, the source revealed.

Minister Amongi first broke her silence about the fight a few months ago when she posted a long text pointing at how her cabinet colleague had reportedly misinformed the president.

A cabinet source confirmed that President Museveni has been fully briefed about the feud between the two and the apparent declaration by Amongi to politically capture Dr. Aceng’s Lira city parliamentary seat.

After breaking silent on the fight, the Minister immediately launched a clandestine political drive and swiftly formed a mobilisation team within Lira City, whom she facilitates, monitors, and tasks daily to ensure her intentions come true in 2026. She has since held a series of public gatherings in Lira City.

In addition to this, Minister Amongi also has a carefully briefed team headed by Ken Allan Owani, a notable NRM cadre and the former local city councilor who coordinates both overt and covert political activities within the city.

Recently, Minister Amongi delivered over Ugx300 million to various special groups within Lira City, in addition to donating assorted support to youth, women, and child mothers groups.

After penetrating Lira City through her mobilizers comprising NRM, UPC, and other opposition political mercenaries, Minister Amongi has since held a strong political grip to successfully deliver “Mission Capture Aceng’s MP seat’ in 2026. She has also continued to use both mainstream and social media units to achieve this.

Amongi’s political ambitions to oust Dr.Aceng from parliament (Lira City) became clear when her husband, Jimmy Akena Obote, declared an interest in vying for the presidency in 2026.

BATTLE FOR SUPREMACY

It is said that ever since the duo joined the cabinet, they have always been at loggerheads, fighting in what has been described as a battle for supremacy and a quest to win trust from the appointing authority.

According to security sources, prior to the Oyam North by-elections, the Minister had held numerous clandestine meetings with various NRM party organs drawn from sub-counties and districts within the Lango sub-region to brief them on her plan to officially join government.

It’s said Minister Amongi informed the cadres about the negotiation between her and President Museveni to consider for one of the first top positions in government, and it’s against this background that NRM electoral Chairman Prof. Tanga Odoi told voters in Oyam about Minister Amongi’s pending defection.

Fire on the Mountain

Following the 2021 election, in which Dr. Aceng won with the large support of both traders and religious and cultural leaders, many of her close associates later either went home or openly abandoned her camp. This was attributed to a lack of interest in continuing to follow her, or they got frustrated along the way.

Notable among those who had worked closely with Aceng during the campaign but have since moved on and remained silent included tycoon Mr. Patrick Okello-Okok and former Minister Sam Engola. Other NRM leaders who aren’t supporting Dr. Aceng include Willy Omodo Omodo, Prosy Ayoo Otyek, Lira woman MP Linda Auma, and key tycoons, among others.

The source revealed that some key NRM cadres within the city have remained critical of Dr. Aceng’s leadership style, accusing her of not living to her pledges, a claim she rejected and termed political ‘innuendos’.

Trouble for Dr. Aceng reportedly escalated when she declared her intention to contest for the CEC seat (Northern Uganda) to replace the fallen speaker Jacob Oulanyah, a move that immediately awakened Minister Amongi to declare interest in the same seat and swiftly engaged in conducting underground consultations with NRM leaders of the subregion.

Senior elder Sam Engola, also the former CEC representative for Northern Uganda, has in recent weeks been closely moving with Amongi in all public functions within Lira City to drum up more support.

A source revealed that Engola is among those who have remained bitter with Minister Dr. Aceng and are currently supporting Minister Amongi’s bid.

Sam Atul, the Lira City Mayor, confessed a few days ago how they will be scarified to blood before Dr. Aceng can be politically ousted come 2026 by either Minister Amongi or another person. This was during the handover of over 100 million shillings to local groups within Lira City West by Dr. Aceng.

Amb. Julius Peter Moto, former Uganda’s envoy to London, recently urged Lango to mediate the dispute between the two, saying it could cause a large political calamity for the region if not handled. He advised Minister Amongi to abandon her plan to oust Dr. Aceng in the 2026 election.

How Amongi, Dr. Aceng Erected Nest in NRM?

Amongi’s political power dates back to the early 1990s, when she made critical contacts with the late Brig. Noble Mayombo while at Makerere University, and later she became a member of parliament.

Her engagement with the government reportedly deepened further when she got married to the former first family of the late Dr. Obote.

President Museveni’s attachment and the apparent NRM-UPC alliance have remained more politically strategic and advantageous to Minister Amongi, a strength she uses imperatively.

Dr. Aceng was first introduced to the NRM government at the time she was the Lira regional referral hospital Director by former Minister and top NRM guru, Sam Engola, and she was immediately picked to become the Director General of Health Services through the network of Dr. Diana Atwine, former Museveni’s personal doctor. She later became the Minister, a position she has held to date.

This is not the first time cabinet members from the Lango region have engaged in a bitter fight.

During the 2011–2016 term, the former minister of state for Northern Uganda, Amb Rebecca Amuge Otengo and the former minister of state for urban development, Sam Engola, engaged in a dirty fight that later cost both their parliamentary seats and cabinet slots.

Engola reportedly teamed up against top NRM gurus in government and successfully dislodged Amb Otengo from parliament, but he also lost to MP Jonathan Odur (UPC).

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