Musaazi NAMITI
Chris Ariko Obore, Parliament’s director of communication and public affairs, now grabbing headlines over corruption allegations, made his name at the Daily Monitor where he worked as an investigative reporter.
But television raises people’s profiles much faster, so many Ugandans who know Mr Obore first saw him on NTV’s Fourth Estate, a once popular, hard-hitting current affairs and political talk show, which featured journalists, for the most part.
Mr Obore had a stint with the Red Pepper, a notoriously scurrilous tabloid launched in 2001 by Richard Tusiime, a former Daily Monitor journalist and editor of Orumuri, a Runyankore-Runyakitara weekly that Vision Group used to publish along with other titles that have since been discontinued.
He also reported for the Evening Mail, a defunct weekly launched in 2004 by the current Daily Monitor public editor, Odoobo Bichachi.
The collapse of the Mail saw him knocking on Red Pepper’s door for a job. After a short stint, he quit to rejoin the Daily Monitor, which he had left to work for Mr Bichachi’s paper.
On the Fourth Estate, he spoke the language the common man understood well, often lambasting corrupt government officials and cutting the figure of a dejected man moved by the squandering of public resources.
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In 2016, he started his journey out of the newsroom when he applied for the position of director of communications and public affairs at Parliament. The role attracted other well-known Ugandan journalists, but he ended up getting the job.
His boss was former Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga. He quickly asserted his authority, ordering journalists who did not have university-level education to go back to school and acquire proper academic qualifications. He argued that reporting on Parliament required well-educated journalists who could understand everything legislators discussed.
But after being in the job for a couple of years, Mr Obore fell out with Ms Kadaga and was put on katebe—kind of.
Things changed for the better after the late Jacob Oulanyah won the Speakership in 2021, edging Ms Kadaga out and paving the way for Mr Obore to return to his job.
‘We are in things’
Ugandans have shared countless times a 2021 video in which he is seen dancing and telling former Speaker of Parliament Anita Among (at the time she was Mr Oulanyah’s deputy): “We are in things,” meaning, ‘We have landed great jobs’.”
But the job he was celebrating in the video could upend his life if prosecutors prove allegations that he, along with six other people working at Parliament, embezzled public funds. He is due to be arraigned before the Anti-Corruption Court.
The Inspectorate of Government has charged him and his co-accused with embezzling public funds. He will enter a plea once he appears before the court.
ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS OUR READERS OFTEN ASK
Mr Obore’s name featured prominently in the 2024 corruption exposé, also called ‘Parliament Exhibition’, led by academic and cartoonist Jimmy Spire Ssentongo and the non-profit AGORA Discourse, which campaigns against corruption and defends human rights. The group shared documents online alleging that billions of shillings from Parliament had been paid into Mr Obore’s private bank account.
He denied any wrongdoing and vigorously defended his former boss, Ms Among, who has herself been accused of corruption. In 2024, she was sanctioned by the governments of the UK and the US as scrutiny of the alleged corruption intensified.
Hours after Mr Obore’s arrest, Agather Atuhaire, the Agora Discourse team leader, posted on X: “Bien has a song titled, ‘All My Enemies Are Suffering.’”
She and Mr Obore have been at loggerheads, with Mr Obore accusing her of orchestrating a hate campaign against Ms Among. As she presses ahead with her anti-corruption drive, he is facing the prospect of being placed behind bars for many years unless he can prove the allegations against him are false.
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