The Ides of Among

The Fall of Uganda’s Parliamentary Caesar

COVER STORY | IAN KATUSIIME | The political arena of Kampala has long resembled a modern Colosseum, but no one quite expected the Senate floor to turn so decisively on its chief architect. For four years, Speaker Anita Among ruled the August House with the absolute authority of a Roman dictator, wielding her gavel like a sceptre and dismissing challengers as mere plebeians at her gates.

Yet, just as Julius Caesar found that the greatest threats often wear the robes of closest allies, the political tides have shifted with brutal, calculated precision. The whispers of discontent have transformed into an inescapable reality: the decrees have been read, the daggers have been drawn, and the infallible empire of Uganda’s parliamentary Caesar has finally met its own Ides of March.

The downfall of Among was as dramatic as her rise. From a modest background as a lecturer to her climb to the highest echelons of political power, Among’s career arc was unprecedented in Uganda. Her story has perhaps demonstrated that the higher the political pedestal, the more thunderous the eventual collapse.

“A week is a long time in politics” is a quote attributed to former British prime minister Harold Wilson. It is often used to capture the volatile, hyper-accelerated nature of political power. The quote sums up the power of Among in the last few days. The ground had been shifting from Among since Norbert Mao declared his interest in the speakership, but she held steady until everything fell apart in a matter of days owing to her corruption scandals and perceived consolidation of power in the last few years.

On May 12, the day President Yoweri Museveni swore in for a seventh elective term, Among was in her element, donning one of her favourite yellow dresses with a fascinator as she welcomed the Head of State just next to Vice President Jessica Alupo. The next day MPs swore in and the Speaker was one of the first to take the oath as Woman MP for Bukedea.

But a tweet from Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the Chief of Defence Forces, endorsing Jacob Oboth Oboth for the Speakership appeared to shift the balance of power. By May 16, the relatively unknown Oboth Oboth, also state minister of defense, was on his way to the speaker’s chambers.

On that day, government officials, MPs, businesspeople, clergy, police and the army had all converged at his home in Mukono for a hastily arranged thanksgiving service for his re-election as MP for West Budama. Daudi Kabanda, Muhoozi’s confidant, who had organised the ceremony, left no doubt in a speech as to who controlled the proceedings from behind the scenes. “I have a message from my chairman, Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, endorsing you as the Speaker of the 12th parliament,” Kabanda, the secretary general of Patriotic League of Uganda (PLU), Muhoozi’s political party, said to applause from the audience.

In a space of just seven days, Among went from being the third person in the Order of National Precedence to bowing out of the Speaker’s race in a Twitter statement that looked like it didn’t come from her.

As MPs wined and dined at the home of their next Speaker, the world closed in on their former patron as detectives and soldiers descended on her lavish homes, starting with her main one in the upscale suburb of Nakasero, ringed by hotels, banks and diplomatic residences.

Detectives of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) discovered stacks of cash piled up in billions, and seized documents implicating her in what has been dubbed the grand heist of Parliament.

The raids extended to her other expensive homes in Kigo, Ntinda and Bukedea—symbols of naked ostentation—and unashamed abuse of office. CID detectives have reportedly seized her fleet of luxury cars that range from her latest; a Rolls Royce, Range Rovers, Mercedes Benzes and other SUVs that Ugandans could only see in Hollywood TV shows and movies.

Some of her aides, like Chris Obore, Director of Communications at Parliament are also persons of interest in the wide ranging investigation. Her minions who cheered her on at the height of her power have gone off-grid—inactivating their Twitter accounts as she is cut to size.

Among in her only statement since the crackdown began vowed to coordinate with the ongoing criminal investigation. It is the first time a Speaker of Parliament has been under a criminal probe although the general consensus is that Among had flown too close to the sun, and the powers that be took action.

There’s a petition before the Inspector General of Government to look into her financial wrongdoing. Among faces charges of corruption, illicit enrichment, and money laundering.

As Speaker, she presided over parliament like a mediaeval ruler with aides and guards hovering over her, scampering to attend to her whims lest they fall out of favour.

MPs and Parliament officials fell over themselves in expressions of loyalty like school children after candy and any MP who dared to stand up to her was usually sidelined and missed out on a number of benefits. She threw cash at legislators, gave them loans and trapped them in all manner of shenanigans to buy their fealty.

Under Among, the Parliament budget blossomed to more than a trillion shillings in what critics dubbed ‘grand theft’ and ‘fiscal indiscipline’ on a scale unseen before in the NRM era. “The money Among and her cronies stole in the 8 months between July 2025 and Feb 2026 is over UGX 50,000,000,000 (about $13.5M),” Agather Atuhaire, an activist who was key in exposing Among’s wastage of taxpayers money, posted on Twitter.

This was money funnelled through the Parliamentary Commission with documents indicating withdrawals of up to Shs1 billion in a single day. The Parliamentary Commission is the administrative body of the House and how any Speaker wields her power.

She used the Commission and the Parliamentary Sacco to allegedly launder money for various activities in and outside the country. Among purchased a Rolls-Royce, a British-made luxury car, at a staggering USD1m in a poor country where thousands remain unemployed.

The purchase of the Rolls Royce in November, which became public days ago, was the final straw that triggered the takedown of arguably the most scandal-ridden politician in a generation.

Among’s patronage network allegedly involved judges, where she had compromised a whole arm of government. According to sources, the Speaker dished out jobs to children of judges and thus had leverage in any court case where she was mentioned.

The outgoing Speaker had a meteoric rise in parliament. In 2021, she was elected Deputy Speaker, defeating Mohammed Nsereko and Yusuf Nsibambi. She chaired the plenary session most of that year as the Speaker Jacob Oulanyah was ailing. In the brief months she was Deputy Speaker, she made power plays that garnered attention, but she was already on the spot for a number of dubious deals.

In March 2022, Oulanyah died in the US, and Among succeeded him. She quickly consolidated power and became even more powerful than Rebecca Kadaga who was Speaker for 10 years.

Among went on an ego trip—initiating a censure motion against Minister Persis Namuganza although President Museveni nixed the censure. She was instrumental in the passing of the Anti-Homosexuality Act in 2023 and silencing the opposition.

“In the 11th parliament, opposition got swallowed; in the 12th parliament, it is going to be walloped”, Among bragged barely a month ago. Now she’s swallowed up in scandal and shame as the noose extends to how she got re-elected as MP for Bukedea. Her opponents are said to have been intimidated by her agents, and some offered financial incentives.

Among also made another play for power by running for the post of second national vice chairperson in the NRM, which was held by her old foe, Kadaga. The move caused friction in the ruling party, sucking in the party chairman, Museveni, but the two contested, and Among soundly defeated Kadaga.

In spite of her ascendancy in the country’s power politics, Among’s scandals and gratuitous display of wealth remained her Achilles heel. She routinely showed off her cars costing hundreds of millions of shillings, hosted extravagant parties at her homes and subtly challenged Museveni and the NRA hierarchy. She was involved in the theft of iron sheets meant for the Karamoja region.

Her wanton theft of public funds got her sanctioned from the U.S. and U.K. in 2024 within a month. The Speaker of Uganda was thus barred from travelling to either country and owning property in two of Uganda’s key development partners.

Among kept travelling to the Vatican to meet with Pope Francis with whom she had struck an unusual friendship. She has also met Pope Leo twice in a continuation of the tradition—the latest being in May—the month when her wings were clipped.

Commentators say that Among fell for the ultimate ruse: proximity to power. They argue that in her unprecedented rise from Deputy Speaker to Speaker, Among thought she had power and thus followed in the footsteps of Gilbert Bukenya, Amama Mbabazi, Kale Kayihura—men who were far more influential and significant to the Emperor than she could possibly be.