Anita Among Wins Asuman Basalirwa To Become Speaker Of The 11th Parliament

PARLIAMENT- NRM’s Anita Among was yesterday elected in a stiff speakership race to become the full speaker of the 11th parliament as she replaces the fallen former speaker Jacob Aulanya who has been her Boss.
Earlier, she was endorsed by her party’s top Central Executive Committee (CEC) on Wednesday amongst the 12candates that showed interest for the top seat of the legislature.
This election held at Kololo Independent grounds saw the Bukedea woman member of parliament scoop almost all the votes, beating her rival, the Opposition’s Asuman Basarirwa who managed to score only 66 votes.
What has however surprised many is the way MPs voted, wondering if the entire opposition has 104 members of parliament, how come their suitable best candidate scored only 56 votes. Which opposition MPs betrayed their camp.
profile of the new speaker Anita Among
Born 23 November 1973, Anita is a Ugandan, lawyer accountant and politician who is to serve as the Speaker of the 11th parliament from 2021 to 2026. She also concurrently serves as the elected member of parliament for the Bukedea District Women Constituency, the same position she held in the 10th parliament (2016–2021). She was in FDC party before she joined the ruling NRM where she was voted as the Deputy speaker of the 11th parliament.
She attended local schools for her elementary and secondary education. She graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree, from Makerere University, in 2005. In 2008, she was awarded a Master of Business Administration degree, also by Makerere University.
In 2018, Among graduated from Kampala International University, with a Bachelor of Laws degree. At that time, she was in the process of attaining qualification as a Chartered Certified Accountant.
From 1998 until 2006, Ms Among worked at Centenary Bank, one of the large commercial banks in the country. At the time she left in 2006, she had risen to the rank of branch manager.
For the ten years prior to her election to parliament, she served as a lecturer in accounting, at Kampala International University.
For two parliamentary election cycles in 2007, when Bukedea District was created, and 2011, Among lost the District Woman Representative seat to Rose Akol of the National Resistance Movement political party.
Among, a long-time member of the opposition Forum for Democratic Change political party, ran in 2016 as an independent candidate. She won and is the incumbent MP.
In 2020, she joined the National Resistance Movement (NRM) after falling out with her party FDC and won the party primaries. In the 2021 general elections, Among was one of the few legislators who was elected unopposed to join the 11th parliament though her victory was contentious because the electoral commission blocked some of her competitors from nomination.

she has become the 2 nd woman to occupy the seat of the speaker of parliament of Uganda after former speaker of the 10th parliament Rebecca Kadaga.