“I don’t want to be president”, Speaker Anita Among reassures Ugandans

[Eronda]

Parliament Speaker Anita Among has become the latest in a long line of presumptive or declared suitors, stretching from Dr Kizza Besigye in 2001, through Amama Mbabazi in 2016.

Ms Among, last month, gave the talk of eyeing the Uganda presidency a wide berth, reinforcing the belief that the top job is ring-fenced and that its limit should not be crossed, even when the Constitution grants every Ugandan above 18 years the right to contest for it.

While speaking at the Patriotic League of Uganda (PLU) headquarters in Kampala, Ms Among rebuked those reportedly spreading the claims that she harbours presidential ambitions for the next race in the 2031 elections. PLU is a loose political pressure group pushing for the first son and Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba to be the “stand-by generator” or next leader of Uganda after his father, President Yoweri Museveni.

But Ms Among, perhaps mindful not to cross the undeclared red line, said: “I have heard a section of people out there speaking; I don’t want to call it rubbish, but it is rubbish. That Honourable Anita in 2031 wants to stand for the presidency. I want to tell the Ugandans that even where I am now, I have overachieved. “I didn’t expect to be here (Speaker), and I am saying that in 2031, I am retiring from active politics. I am happy that in one way, God made me become a Speaker because I didn’t (even) expect to become a Speaker,” she said. Ms Among became Speaker of the 11th Parliament on March 25, 2022, replacing the late Jacob Oulanyah. “I only thought of trying [to become] Deputy Speaker because I wanted to help Honourable Oulanyah to win, and when I tried, I got it, and by bad luck, Honourable Oulanyah passed on, and I ended up being a Speaker,” Ms Among explained.

To further downplay her ambition and distance herself from the presidency, Ms Among said she doesn’t even know how to cock a gun, a weapon the current President used to ascend to power in 1986, retain it, and suppress many revolts. “This country still needs people like …. I don’t have that patience to be a President; I don’t even have the urge, I don’t even have the wish, but I am happy that in one way or the other, God gave me [an opportunity] to be a Speaker.” Besides Ms Among’s self-denial on eyeing the presidency, there has also been the fear of rivalry and being upstaged by junior or less deserving suitors among the presumptive line-up of successors.
Source: Daily Monitor