Politics
Since 2021, Ms Anita Among has craved and attempted to be everything that Ms Rebecca Kadaga has been, including declaring herself Mama Busoga and investing in Kamuli District
NATIONAL | The Speaker of Parliament, Anita Among, has declared intentions to wrestle the ruling party National Resistance Movement (NRM) top executive seat from her nemesis and predecessor Rebecca Kadaga.
Ms Among, who joined hands with her immediate predecessor Jacob Oulanyah to oust Ms Kadaga from the Legislature’s top seat in 2021 – before assuming the full mantle upon Oulanyah’s death in 2022 – wants the NRM’s National Women’s Chairperson seat.
The seat is currently held by Busoga political lynchpin and First Deputy Prime Minister Kadaga.
“I’m also going to stand as NRM National Women’s Chairperson,” Among declared during a meeting with some 20 urban council speakers, who had approached her to express concerns over poor remuneration and transportation challenges.
The seat is the ticket to the NRM’s Central Executive Committee and Ms Among made no mistake in reminding her guests and a section of the media what she really meant.
“I’m not standing for the position for the eastern region, I’m going to stand for National Vice Chairperson Female,” she said.
“I’m for the whole country not only eastern region.”
The eastern region is currently led by Flight Captain Mike Mukula, who hails from Ms Among’s Teso sub-region.
The national vice-chairpersons directly support the Chairperson, who is also President Museveni, and his longstanding party right-hand man Moses Kigongo.
The development sets the stage for a high-stakes contest between Ms Among and Ms Kadaga, two prominent figures who have had a fraught political relationship.
Ms Kadaga, who has held the position for years, has avoided open clashes with Ms Among, who has goaded her in the past by declaring herself Mama Busoga and making suggestions that an “old woman from Kamuli” was to blame for the poverty in Busoga.
Ms Kadaga is from Kamuli and the Basoga have for years called her Mama Busoga for her dedicated political leadership of the sub-region.
Ms Among has also previously alleged attempts to undermine her Speakership with veiled innuendo that a former Speaker was still holding hopes of bouncing bakc to the top seat.
While Kadaga recently stirred public concern with audio recordings in which she claimed that unnamed enemies were plotting to harm her through a staged road accident.
She did not provide evidence or identify the alleged conspirators.
Ms Among’s growing influence has been felt not only in national politics but also in Busoga, Kadaga’s stronghold.
She has made significant investments in Kadaga’s backyard of Kamuli using her neighbouring marital home district of Buyende as a base to engage the Basoga.
The upcoming NRM primaries are expected to be intensely contested, as both leaders vie for the influential Women’s Chairperson seat, a position pivotal in shaping the party’s future.
