Backlash against Uganda Parliament Speaker over homophobic remarks
Reputation of Uganda’s Anita Among tarred by corruption scandal.
A “homosexuality honeymoon” seems to be over for Anita Among, the homophobic speaker of Uganda’s Parliament.
In 2023, she orchestrated the enactment of Uganda’s harsh Anti-Homosexuality Act (AHA), after which she enjoyed months of praise from equally homophobic Ugandans. But now her name is tarred with political corruption even as she faces harsh online backlash after sharing homophobic remarks on X (Twitter).
On Nov. 27, the Daily Monitor, an independent Ugandan newspaper, posted a photo of Among with the following quote in whch she praised her political party, the governing National Resistance Movement (NRM), and claimed that the opposition National Unity Platform supports homosexuality:
“For us, we are saying you would rather be in a bus (@NRMOnline) which delivers you to the next destination than being in an umbrella (@NUP_Ug) which is covering evil, because the evil we are talking about in that umbrella is homosexuality. And they are saying they want a protest vote. What are you protesting? The peace that has been brought to the country? The development that has come to Uganda?”-
The post attracted a long thread of comments condemning Among’s remarks, with many accusing her of being evil herself after her name came up in massive corruption scandals in Parliament and in the cabinet. In 2023, Anita Among together with Vice President Jessica Alupo, Prime Minister Robinan Nabbanja and several other Senior Cabinet Ministers, including former speaker Rebecca Kadaga, took thousands of iron roofing sheets meant for development projects in Karamoja, Uganda’s least developed sub-region.
Among is reported to have returned the 500 iron sheets she had taken, but gave no clear explanation why the materials meant for Karamoja ended up in her private school in Bukedea District.
Three junior ministers — Amos Lugolobi, Mary Goreti Kitutu and Agnes Nadutu — were arrested and remanded at Luzira Prison, but President Yoweri Museveni’s government allowed Among and top cabinet ministers to go unpunished. In 2024, the U.S. State Department imposed visa restrictions on four current and former Ugandan officials, including Among, for their reported involvement in corrupt activities.
Among claimed she was being targeted because of her support for Museveni and her leading role in passing the AHA.
Previously, much of the public seemed to accept Among’s anti-homosexuality record as a proof of her virtue, but the harsh comments about her latest homosexuality remarks show that’s no longer the case.
Many people criticized her for stealing the iron roofing sheets while accusing others of “evil”. For example:
Kiyimba John – @KiyimbaJoh85841 asked: “What about stealing the ion sheets from the poor people?”
@Ashirafmakanga1: “Says a corrupt crook, someone who stooped so low to steal iron sheets meant for the poor. What’s more immoral than that?”
One @benywanira23118 asked: “Is it the evil that stole Karamoja iron sheets?”
Dr. Kennedy Maurice (@DrKennedym5): “Which evil: why did u steal iron sheets if u know you aren’t evil? …”
Others expressed their dissatisfaction with Among for continually focusing on homosexuality instead of more pressing issues.
LGBTQ rights advocate Frank Mugisha said Among was using LGBTQ citizens as a political scapegoat to distract from serious issues. “LGBTQ people are citizens, taxpayers, and voters. Weaponizing their lives by calling them ‘evil’ is morally wrong, undermines human rights, and is a dangerous deflection from national development”, Mugisha stated on X in reaction to Among’s remarks.
Others agreed. For example:
Chrispus Junior (@taatawindor): “Is it homosexuality that is stealing from Ugandans? Is it homosexuality that is killing Ugandans? Let us focus on the majors, I don’t think that it is [homosexuality] that is denying Ugandans fair employment and services”
@mubiruse: “Whenever I see a brief from Anita on the media channels. I know it’s about the homos”.
@ambrose_trust: “Homosexuality has suffered. Everything is blamed on it”
@AkambamuD38281: “We need answers not insults”
@daimenrichie: “A real leader builds buses for all, not ones that run over rights….”.
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