Speaker Anita Among Breaks Silence on 2031 Presidential Ambitions

Speaker of Parliament Anita Among has ruled out contesting the 2031 presidential election, saying she intends to retire from active politics and will support whichever candidate President Yoweri Museveni endorses.

Ms Among made the remarks on Saturday while presiding over the handover of Shs100 million for the MK Run, an event set for April 26 to mark the 52nd birthday of Chief of Defence Forces Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba.

“I have heard a section of people out there, I don’t want to call it rubbish, but it is rubbish, that Honourable Anita 2031 wants to stand for president,” she said, dismissing the speculation as “total nonsense.”

The Speaker said her current position in government had already surpassed what she anticipated for herself. “Even where I am right now I have overachieved. I did not expect to be here,” she said.

She added that she does not seek offices she feels unprepared for. “I don’t pursue what I can’t handle. Even being an MP is too much for me. How then the presidency? I don’t even know how to cock a gun, and I lack the patience,” she said.

Ms Among, who has previously expressed support for Gen. Muhoozi succeeding his father, said her role in 2031 would be to campaign for whoever Museveni backs. “I am retiring from active politics. If my brother is standing, or anybody that the president shows me to support, that is the person I will support,” she said.

The remarks come as Ms Among faces a contest closer at hand. With the 12th Parliament set to be constituted in May, she is seeking re-election as Speaker for the new term. Justice and Constitutional Affairs minister Norbert Mao, who won the Laroo-Pece seat in January, has declared his intention to challenge her for the position.

Mr Mao has referred to Ms Among as an “accidental Speaker,” a reference to her elevation from Deputy Speaker following the death of Jacob Oulanyah in 2022. Ms Among has rejected the description.

Tensions between the two spilled into the open at the recent NRM MPs-elect retreat at Kyankwanzi, where Ms Among told Mr Mao to keep out of NRM affairs. Mr Mao responded by calling her a badly mannered adopted child.