Embattled former Speaker Anita Among swears in as the Bukedea District Woman MP at Parliament on May 13, 2026.
Outgoing Speaker of Parliament Anita Annet Among was a no-show on Monday at the inaugural sitting of the 12th Parliament, where legislators elected a new Speaker to replace her and Deputy Speaker.
Ms Among, who was elected Woman Member of Parliament for Bukedea District, was expected to attend the sitting and cast her vote alongside other legislators during the election of the new parliamentary leadership.
However, her absence was conspicuous throughout the proceedings held under a giant tent at Kololo Independence Grounds, where Parliament convened for its first business session.
During the roll call ahead of voting, the names of all elected MPs were read out, but Ms Among was not present.
Efforts to obtain a comment from her lawyer, Mr Caleb Alaka, on why his client skipped the sitting were unsuccessful as he neither answered repeated phone calls nor responded to WhatsApp messages by press time.
Ms Among had until last week been expected to seek another term as Speaker before reportedly being asked during a closed-door meeting at State House Entebbe, not to contest again for the country’s third-highest office.
Sources indicated that the meeting followed mounting pressure over corruption allegations and controversy that characterised the 11th Parliament under her leadership.
Her withdrawal from the race paved the way for Jacob Marksons Oboth-Oboth to be overwhelmingly elected Speaker, with Thomas Tayebwa retaining his position as Deputy Speaker.
Mr Tayebwa had also served as deputy speaker during Ms Among’s tenure.
As a backbench legislator in the new Parliament, Ms Among was expected to participate in the voting process like any other ordinary MP, without the privileges attached to the Speaker’s office.
Her absence came days after security agencies carried out coordinated searches at several of her residences in Nakasero, Kigo, and Ntinda, as well as her upcountry homes and former office at Parliament.
The searches are linked to ongoing investigations into alleged corruption and abuse of office.
By press time, it remained unclear whether Ms Among was under any form of restriction or free to move normally.
Authorities had also not indicated whether criminal charges would be preferred against her in the coming days or weeks.
Police have remained largely silent on the outcome of the searches and have not publicly disclosed what items of evidential value may have been recovered.
However, two luxury vehicles — a Rolls-Royce estimated at Shs3.4 billion and a Range Rover reportedly worth more than Shs1 billion — were seen being removed from her Kigo residence during the operation last week and taken to the Police’s headquarters in Naguru.
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