Anita Among’s Worst Nightmare: Mao Explains Exactly How He Broke the Speaker’s Chair

In a move that has blown the doors wide open on the intense power struggles inside Uganda’s government, Justice Minister Norbert Mao has boldly admitted he was on a direct mission to oust the former Speaker of Parliament, Anita Among. Mao didn’t hold back, fiercely defending his aggressive push to get her out of the seat by claiming she had completely weaponized and abused the country’s highest legislative office.

Speaking with characteristic candor, Mao revealed that his decision to contest the Speakership of the 12th Parliament was driven by a deliberate mission to halt what he described as the flagrant abuse of the legislature’s highest office.

The political fallout follows a highly contentious legislative transition that ultimately saw West Budama Central MP Jacob Oboth-Oboth elected as the new Speaker on May 25, 2026. However, the dust has far from settled, as Mao’s latest remarks expose the raw tensions that precipitated Among’s exit from the powerful seat.

Shaking the Chair: Mao’s Direct Mission

According to Mao, who is also the President General of the Democratic Party (DP) and an MP-elect for Laroo-Pece Division, public and institutional frustration regarding the management of Parliament had reached a breaking point. The minister argued that the office of the Speaker had ceased to function as an independent arbiter, instead transforming into an echo chamber of excess and impunity.

“The problem was the position of Speaker because that office was being abused,” Mao stated unequivocally. “Someone needed to shake that chair.”

Mao emphasized that his bid for the Speakership was never merely about personal ambition, but rather a calculated effort to force a systemic correction. He pointed out that opposition to Among’s leadership style was swelling across all major sectors of public life, creating an unprecedented consensus of discontent.

“Civil society was making an alarm, MPs were making an alarm, the opposition leaders in Parliament were making an alarm,” Mao noted, highlighting that the widespread outcry crossed deep-seated political divides.

The Backdrop of Controversy

The tensions between Minister Mao and former Speaker Anita Among are rooted in months of escalating verbal warfare and shifting political alliances. During the run-up to the 12th Parliament leadership elections, Among had aggressively dismissed challengers from outside the core ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) establishment—including Mao, who operates under a 2022 cooperation agreement with President Yoweri Museveni.

At an NRM retreat at the National Leadership Institute (NALI) in Kyankwanzi, Among famously used a domestic metaphor to diminish external political partners, stating they could remain “in the compound” but should stay out of the “bedroom,” which she termed the Speakership.

Mao fiercely pushed back against those remarks at the time, labeling them “bad politics and bad manners.” He repeatedly described Among as an “accidental Speaker” whose rise to the top in 2022 was merely a consequence of the tragic passing of former Speaker Jacob Oulanyah, rather than a structured, long-term institutional plan.

Falling Out with the System

The institutional gridlock surrounding the legislative leadership also saw dramatic interventions from powerful state actors. The Patriotic League of Uganda (PLU), a political pressure group led by First Son Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, abruptly withdrew its endorsement of Anita Among just weeks before the vote, dealing a fatal blow to her re-election prospects.

The public pushback was further fueled by sweeping allegations of corruption, extravagant public expenditure, and the intimidation of journalists and public whistleblowers. Critics inside and outside Parliament had increasingly labeled the august house a “crime scene,” an assessment Mao publicly leaned into by stating that Parliament would “never be the same again.”

By launching his own candidacy, Mao asserts he broke the inertia and political paralysis holding back institutional reforms. While the NRM caucus ultimately converged on Jacob Oboth-Oboth to restore legislative stability, Mao views the clean break from the previous administration as a victory for the country’s constitutional order.

As the 12th Parliament begins its substantive business under new leadership, Mao’s remarks serve as a stark reminder that the Executive, civil society, and reform-minded legislators remain hyper-vigilant against the recurrence of overreach in the chambers of Parliament House.