Mao brands Among an ‘adopted child’ as speakership race hots up in Kyankwanzi

The battle for the speakership of Uganda’s 12th Parliament burst into open confrontation on Thursday at the National Leadership Institute (NALI) in Kyankwanzi, after Speaker Anita Among and Justice minister Norbert Mao traded sharp barbs during the NRM caucus retreat. 

Among, who is seeking a second term as Speaker, took aim at Mao, President of the opposition Democratic Party, warning that cooperation between political parties should not be mistaken for entitlement to the top parliamentary office. 

“We do cooperate with different political parties but the cooperation does not mean that if we are cooperating you come up to my bedroom. You remain in the compound. The bedroom this time round is the speakership,” she said. 

Mao hit back almost immediately, in a social media post, calling the remarks both improper and disrespectful. 

“This is not just bad politics. It is bad manners! Only the head of the family has the final word on who can access which room in the home. He doesn’t need lectures from a recently adopted child! Above all, when you insult your father’s visitors you’ve insulted your father,” Mao said. 

The public clash came against the backdrop of a race that had already widened beyond the expected Anita Among-Thomas Tayebwa continuity ticket. 

President Museveni told newly elected MPs at the retreat that the NRM Central Executive Committee (CEC) would revisit its earlier position and discuss all those who want to contest, despite previously recommending that the incumbents be maintained. 

Museveni said CEC had only made a recommendation and that “it is not us who decide”, adding that the matter would be discussed “at the right time”. 

That intervention has effectively reopened the internal contest, at least politically, and given fresh hope to challengers. 

Before Museveni’s latest remarks, the official NRM position had been that the party’s CEC endorsed Among and Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa for another term on February 20, 2026, and that Museveni later signed and forwarded that resolution to secretary general Richard Todwong for consideration by the NRM parliamentary caucus. 

The caucus is expected to adopt party flag bearers for Speaker and Deputy Speaker after MPs are sworn in between May 13 and 

Even so, the field remains crowded. Among, Mao, Persis Namuganza, Lydia Wanyoto, Alioni Yorke Odria and Florence Asiimwe Akiiki are among those who have expressed interest in the job. 

Mao, who formally declared his bid in February, has argued that his cooperation agreement with the NRM should not shut him out of the contest, while NRM officials such as Emmanuel Dombo have defended his presence at both the caucus process and the Kyankwanzi retreat on that basis.