The night of 15 May 2026 is foundational. A meeting where the atmosphere was vaguely tense had hours ago been convened at State House, Entebbe. With the energy in the room at once seismic and trembly, Anita Among had figured out that the writing was firmly etched on the wall. Her dream of being the Speaker of the 12th Parliament was in tatters. As her media minders used social media platforms, with the aid of a number of bots, to denounce the jaundiced, if hapless, lens through which their boss was being viewed, the noose around her neck kept tightening. Did she really receive the ultra-luxury Rolls-Royce Cullinan Weekend Monitor reported about as a birthday gift? The urgings to make the government care more about her perceived abuse of power could, surely, not be wished away.
The wheels of the night of the long knives had been well and truly set in motion. Shortly after the lunch hour the following day, the first raid on one of Among’s many abodes would take centre-stage in such a sensational fashion. It was where Among spent the night. Drone images captured glimpses of the ostentatious display of wealth. The two secured gates, the long driveway, the well-manicured football pitch, the big windows, and everything in between. Conventional images captured chiseller sporting a shirt with, fittingly, the word ‘punisher’ emblazoned at the back, arriving with a tool of trade that would, perhaps, help him breach a vault.
The public-facing role that Gen. Muhoozi, also the Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) of the Uganda People’s Defence Force (UPDF), played when his father was being sworn in for a seventh elective term as Uganda’s president reified the palace coup narrative. But, with time, President Museveni would, as he has done for the better part of four decades, deftly move pieces on the chessboard, fashioning a win here, a loss there, and—in that process—leave no doubt as to who is in charge. The cabinet reshuffle that came with the start of his seventh elective term is the sort of balancing act that the Ugandan strongman has come to be known for. But, above all, it has tacitly kept a studied distance between PLU and the much-vaunted king maker role in the Ugandan body politic.
Suggestions, which Vox Populi has not verified, that Among could be rehabilitated and accorded what a Speaker Emeritus has come to expect under Museveni’s long rulership will offer credence to readings that likened the night of the long knives to an opening gambit. It could well not be the high-profile audition from PLU that many made it out to be.
In which event, it will add another layer of intrigue to Uganda’s succession question. Museveni will be 87 when the East African nation next goes to the polls in 2031. The protest X post from David Kabanda, PLU’s Secretary General, that it will be self-defeating if the anti-graft inquest into Among does not reach a logical conclusion was telling. As was Gen. Muhoozi’s X post after Kabanda was overlooked for a ministerial position. A PLU Secretary General wields more influence and power than a minister, the CDF wrote on the microblogging site.
Since then, Kabanda has found himself involved in bruising battles as he, critics contend, tries to radiate the gravitas of a king maker. Clashes this month with Odrek Rwabwogo, the president’s son-in-law, and Jimmy Akena, a leader of one of the factions of the Uganda People’s Congress (UPC), have particularly stuck out like the metaphorical sore thumb.
Meanwhile, President Museveni’s hand continues to be strengthened with each passing day. If it ever was weakened. The knives might have been brought out a couple of months ago, but the Ugandan strongman is not about to slow down. Not just yet, anyway.