“Just because people dance to your music on the streets, you think you can remove President Museveni from power.”
That’s how Anita Annet Among brushed off Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine’s presidential challenge at a rally in Sheema Municipality, in December 2025.
Among wears a lot of hats: she is the speaker of Parliament and the second national vice chairperson for the ruling NRM.
However, during the 2026 presidential campaigns, she revealed her edgier, rougher side.
On Museveni’s campaign trail, she has been sharp, sometimes personal, and always right in the thick of the fight. Critics say her tough talk does not look great for a country like Uganda that is trying to institutionalise the culture of democracy.
But some of her fans, going by the reactions on social media, seem to love it. They see her fire as proof of loyalty to Museveni and the NRM.
Since 2025, when she showed interest in contesting for the position of second national vice chairperson, Among has thrown herself into the NRM campaign.
She is not like Rebecca Kadaga, the previous speaker and former NRM vice chairperson, who mostly kept her distance from the party’s political activities. Except for Busoga, Kadaga was never part of Museveni’s campaign trail in the election cycles of 2011, 2016, and 2021, when she was the third-highest-ranking member of the NRM.
But Among has been out there rallying for Museveni and NRM candidates all over Uganda since the presidential campaigns kicked off in September 2025. If you have been observant, her speeches at Museveni’s rallies have largely targeted the president’s opponents, real or perceived.
Analysts see it as a big change. The speaker of Parliament used to stay above the campaign mudslinging, but not anymore.
In Sheema, she used humour, some may call it dark humour, to chip away at Kyagulanyi’s credibility. She wanted to shrink the growing influence of the NUP presidential candidate by poking fun at who he is (a musician), not just what he stands for.
She did not stop there. In Butambala, Among took her critique even further. She zeroed in on Muwanga Kivumbi, a longtime area MP and deputy president of NUP, and mocked the fact that he still lives in his mother’s house.
“The MP that they have here does not even have a house,” she said. “He sleeps in his mother’s house… If you are a leader, you should lead by example. At least have a home where you can sleep,” she said as some people cheered.
For many of Kivumbi’s supporters, this attack felt personal. What does Kivumbi’s lack of a house have to do with his leaderhsip abilities, some asked.
In Mukono, Among tossed aside the usual political etiquette and openly thanked Museveni for signing off nearly Shs 1 billion to send MP Betty Nambooze abroad for medical care. That was a sharp twist of the knife in Nambooze’s flesh, since the legislator is well known for criticizing the NRM.
Some in the opposition have criticized Among’s tactics.
When Kyagulanyi campaigned in Teso sub-region towards the end of last year, she accused Among of stirring up chaos at his rallies. He said Among had “organised goons to destabilise and attack us” during campaign stops.
Among has not been shy about going after her opponents’ moral values, either. More than once, she’s tried to link Kyagulanyi to policies she claims would erode Ugandan culture. On the campaign trail, she has often warned that if the NUP leader became president, he would legalize homosexuality. In a deeply culturally conservative country like Uganda, this message clearly aims to stoke fears in the people about cultural and moral change.
She has also attacked allies.
In Lwengo, Among ordered Bukoto West MP Muhammed Ssentaayi and Cissy Namujju, the district Woman MP, as if they were young children to embrace as a sign of reconciliation. The two bickering NRM leaders did so grudgingly.
During Museveni’s rally in Lira city on January 8, Among accused the minister of Gender Betty Amongi of using her government post to undercut the NRM in the city.
Amongi, who is on a UPC ticket, is tussling it out with Dr Ruth Aceng, the NRM flag bearer who happens to be the minister of Health.
“We cannot continue hobnobbing with people who do not believe in us and I wanmt to thank the UPC members who love us genuinely,” Among said.
Amongi joined Museveni’s cabinet as part of a deal UPC hammered with the NRM after the 2016 elections. Museveni did not respond to Among’s sentiments.
Yet the fact that Among’s campaign remarks are drawing so much attention shows how much she has broken with the traditional image of a speaker. From James Wapakhabulo to Francis Ayume to Edward Ssekandi to Kadaga, the speakership has always been about keeping parliamentary order and staying above the political fray.
That is why Among’s vocal support for Museveni and her sharp attacks on rivals feel a lot more like hard-hitting electioneering than the usual restraint expected from someone in her position.
Some of her supporters say her willingness to call out big-name opponents in public shows conviction and real leadership. They say when she goes after Museveni or her rivals, there’s no guessing where she stands: she is all in for Museveni and the NRM.
The fact that party delegates from Busoga backed her run for second national vice chairperson ahead of Kadaga shows she has real muscle within the party’s structure, now.
The fear remains that her sharp attacks and divisive tone can turn off some moderate voters who hate negative campaigning.
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She is also not immune to risks within her own party, either. The NRM is a big house, like Museveni has often said, so not everyone inside likes the constant fighting.
Little wonder that at some of the rallies where she has made pointed attacks against Museveni’s opponents, Moses Kigongo, the first national vice chairman of the NRM, has always come in to dilute her words by cleverly calling for peace and harmony.
People like Kigongo think it is smarter to win over undecided voters by talking policy, not throwing personal barbs. Among’s style could stir up more factional fights, especially as she aims higher within the party.
So, what do these speeches actually do for her? She has definitely raised her national political profile. She is now known as a loyal party soldier willing to defend the president and lead from the front.
Whether this visibility gives her lasting influence or a bigger role in the future comes down to how Ugandans may see her style of politics after the dust settles.
With five days left to go to the polls, Among’s sharp words on the trail could form part of a bigger conversation on how political roles are shifting, and whether blunt, hard-hitting rhetoric like hers, is a strength or a stumbling block in the high-stakes game of national politics.
It is a wait-and-see game.
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