I have not been commenting on Ugandan politics lately. Maybe it was writer’s block, or maybe I had simply grown tired of watching the same political theater repeat itself over and over again. But seeing the events live on NTV Uganda on Mackinnon Road in Kampala pushed me to pick up my iPhone, open the Notes app, and begin typing my usual rumblings
Anita Among is a special character within the Ugandan political project because she represents a familiar contradiction within many post-colonial states: an individual who rose through opposition politics only to become absorbed into the machinery of the very system she once stood against. She emerged from the Forum for Democratic Change at a time when the FDC was still viewed by many Ugandans as the genuine vehicle of opposition politics. Yet, like many before her, she eventually became integrated into the ruling structure of the state.
Following the untimely death of Jacob Oulanyah, Among ascended to the Speakership and quickly transformed into one of the most powerful figures in the country. But power within the Ugandan state is never neutral. Under neo-colonial capitalism, political office does not primarily exist to serve the masses; it exists to preserve the ruling order and distribute privilege among loyal cadres of the regime.
In the shortest time possible, enormous wealth, influence, and prestige accumulated around her. The bourgeois culture of excess; luxury convoys, patronage networks, and political arrogance ; consumed her image entirely. But history repeatedly shows us that within highly centralized systems of patronage, no individual outside the supreme center of power is untouchable.
This is not only Anita Among’s story. Yoweri Museveni has done this before to many political figures: Mike Mukula, Jim Muhwezi, and Henry Tumukunde among countless others. The pattern never changes. The system elevates individuals when they are useful and humiliates them when they become liabilities, rivals, or symbols of excessive ambition.
This is why revolutionary politics teaches us that individuals should never confuse proximity to state power with actual ownership of power. In bourgeois states, especially neo-colonial African states, many officials are merely functionaries of a larger machine. They are tools to be deployed, defended, sacrificed, or discarded depending on the needs of the ruling structure.
To the newly elected leaders entering Cabinet or the 12th Parliament, understand this clearly: being appointed by Museveni does not mean you are part of an eternal inner circle. It simply means the machine currently finds you useful. And every tool within that machine has an expiry date.
Serve the people, and the masses may remember you positively long after power abandons you. Serve only personal greed, corruption, and careerism, and one day the same state that protected you will publicly destroy you to preserve itself.
What is happening to Anita Among today resembles a familiar cycle within Ugandan politics: elevation, consolidation, arrogance, isolation, then humiliation. The tragedy is that many politicians fail to recognize the cycle while they are benefiting from it.
I still remember when I was active on X before the Zionists kicked me out. I once criticized the way Anita Among handled parliamentary affairs and the tone she used against critics. The online reaction was intense. Her supporters defended her with near-fanatical energy, and that was when I realized she had become intoxicated by power a common condition among political figures who mistake temporary authority for permanent historical relevance.
The lesson here is simple: in a system built on patronage and personal rule, no politician is truly secure except the center itself. Know your position within the political hierarchy, understand the nature of the state you are serving, and never believe propaganda about being untouchable. Otherwise, the same political machine that elevated you will eventually hang you out to dry before the entire nation.
