Ono Bwino can exclusive report that on Tuesday morning, David Kabanda together with Micheal Maranga Mawanda the Secretary General and Chief mobilizer of the Patriotic League of Uganda (PLU) respectively received a directive with immediate effect to hold a press conference and publicly inform their supporters that as a pressure group, they have withdrawn their earlier endorsement of Annet Anita Among and Thomas Tayebwa for the position of Speaker and Deputy of Parliament.
The development was to prepare the 400 members of parliament supporting PLU that other candidates are going to be announced to contest for both positions on the National Resistance Movement (NRM) ticket.
Muhoozi was also aware that Among was planning to put up a spirited fight contesting the decision stopping her to contest for Speakership in the meeting with the President which was scheduled to be held on Thursday at State House Entebbe.
He was also very scared that Among had plans of using her political skills to compromise the President so that he allows her to contest again even though other power centers were against the move.
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According to Samuel Odonga Otto the former Aruu county Member of Parliament, the four power centers which run the government are; Gen Muhoozi who is also Chief of Defence Forces (CDF), Gen Salim Saleh the Coordinator of the Operation Wealthy Creation who is also President Museveni’s young brother, Janet Kataha Museveni the wife to the President.
Sources told Ono Bwino that of all the said power centers, only president Museveni was still supporting Among, but according to Andrew Mwenda, the President has been under pressure to abandon the Bukedea woman MP on grounds that she is a threat to his leadership and has been giving Uganda a bad image internationally.
Ono Bwino understands that Among first lost the support of the First Lady Janet Kataha when she started undermining her by frustrating her plans on the preparations of the coming Pamoja African Cup of Nations football cup when she tried to influence the President to overrule the First Lady and make changes in the organizing committee members steering committee to insert her husband Moses Magogo and his colleagues in the Federation of Uganda Football Association (FUFA).
Before that, Among had used her influence to frustrate the First Lady’s directive on investigating and prosecuting Magogo after he was sanctioned by FIFA the world football governing body over his fraudulent deals concerning the 2014 world cup tickets.
Charles Twine who was the investigating officer of the said criminal file was transferred from Kibuli based police Criminal Investigation Department (CID) headquarters on Among orders and deployed at parliament as head of Criminal Investigations.
Ono Bwino has learnt that Gen Salim Saleh was not happy with the way Among influenced illegalities in the 2026 general elections by conniving with Electoral Commission bosses to announce different people unopposed including herself and her husband Magogo in Budiope East.
Sources said that in one of the briefs which Gen Saleh sent to Museveni, he noted that Among’s actions were very dangerous to their leadership because her actions were inciting the public against NRM leaders which is a threat to national security.
Saleh was also very aggrieved with Among’s involvements in several corruption scandals in parliament noting that her extravagancy is provoking the public against leaders. He thus advised that she should be dropped.
After learning about the development, sources claim that Among asked for audience with Gen Saleh and apologized. He was told that the NRM chairperson who is President Museveni and NRM’s Central Executive Committee (CEC) are the ones with the last word concerning her fate.
Leonard Egesa, a political analyst and a researcher claims that from that meeting, Among has been panicking and struggling to secure CEC endorsement after President Museveni promised that they will re-evaluate their decision and guide the MP.
Former Kiira Municipality legislator Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda said that NRM historicals and other members of the Deep State were not happy with the way Among managed the 11th parliament.
“I don’t think that people like professor Ephraim Kamuntu, Crispus Kiyonga, Lt Gen Henry Tumukunde, Gen Kahinda Otafire, all NRM historians will allow Among to remain in that office according to her performance. They wanted their government to win genuinely on the floor of parliament by putting up strong arguments watering down those of the opposition, instead of being seen as being helped as Among,” Ssemujju said.
Mwenda said that chances a minimal that Among will be saved by Museveni given that other influential government power centers abandoned her. He noted that the president is under pressure with some people close to him asking why he can retain a person named in several corruption scandals, sanctioned by super power countries like United States of America, Britain, Dubai and some European countries.
Mwenda, revealed because Gen Muhoozi is an influential person in running government, Among cannot survive.
He narrated how he pressured Museveni in one of the many meetings he attended on appointing incompetent people to run government offices and being soft on corrupt officials.
However, he established that the President was doing so because he is a politician and to save some of his political wins, he has to accommodate all those influential individuals from different parts of the country and religions even though some later prove to be corrupt and incompetent.
He explained that Museveni understands Among very well and he is very careful in dealing with her because she has skills in mobilizing people to stand with her plus the financial muscle she commands.
Highly placed sources told Ono Bwino that on Thursday night, the President held a private meeting with some Deep State members at Nakasero State lodge and a decision was taken to use all the available methods to stop Among from contesting for speakership.
Gen Muhoozi through his X handle warned that he will not accept the 2021 scenario when former speaker of parliament Rebecca Alitwala Kadaga protested CEC’s decision and contested against NRM flag bearer late Jacob Oulanyah noting that anyone who tries the same deed will be arrested.
Sources said that on Friday night, the President also held another meeting with Among asking her not to contest and Gen Muhoozi had already deployed hard methods on her after learning that she had directed her people to put up a fight to force Museveni to keep her in the race.
Mwenda said that Among commands 90% of MPs both in the opposition and in the NRM and they were ready to support her because she influenced their 2026 political wins.
Kilak North MP Anthony Akol confirmed that the fight for Among’s parliamentary bid is still on until NRM announces another person as a flag bearer for the party in the coming speakership elections.
He narrated how they have been holding private meetings in the night at Among’s home in Nakasero Kampala city strategizing on how she will retain her seat.
He confirmed that in all the meetings, Masaka city woman MP Justine Nameere has been at the centre strategizing and giving vibrant plans.
PLU’s Kabanda claims that Nameere has been making phone calls to MPs asking them not to attend Jacob Oboth-Oboth’s thanks giving ceremony at his residence in Mukono district.
Gen Muhoozi endorsed Oboth-Oboth as the next speaker of parliament revealing that very soon, he was going to announce his deputy who he said was going to be a woman.
On the issue of dropping Among’s deputy Thomas Tayebwa, Mwenda disclosed that he was scarified because retaining him would place Museveni in bad light because people would try playing the tribal card.
Sources told Ono Bwino that Muhoozi is lethal on Among because there is a scare that she can use her political tricks which she used in 2022 after the death of Oulanyah to compromise the system and win the Speakership.
In 2022, Mwenda said that the entire Deep State was in support of Oboth-Oboth the outgoing Minister of Defence and Veteran Affairs but Among compromised the NRM CEC and the party’s parliamentary caucus which forced Museveni to abandon him in favour of Among.
Sources divulged that Museveni was shocked upon learning that his CEC members were compromised with bribes and it is one of the reasons he didn’t shield them when party delegates were voting new top party leaders.
Gen Muhoozi assured Among and other people on his X handle that he is the most powerful person in the country currently after his father President Museveni and challenged anyone who thinks otherwise to test him.
Mwenda supported the statement adding that because everyone knows Muhoozi’s influence, it is the reason why he received a thunderous reception at Kololo independence grounds when his father was taking his oath as the elected president of Uganda.
