By Gertrude Kamya Othieno
Africa-Press – Uganda. Power, patriarchy, betrayal, age, ethnicity, loyalty, Uganda’s ongoing drama between Rebecca Kadaga and Anita Among is more than a party quarrel. It is a vivid theatre of political science, a case study in how power works everywhere, not just in Kampala. I
f this spectacle were unfolding in the West, the media would already be publishing think-pieces and books.
Yet it deserves global reflection: what lessons about governance, culture, and ethics can be drawn from this clash?
Loyalty vs. Relevance
Rebecca Kadaga, Uganda’s first female Speaker of Parliament, has built her career on loyalty. She has served the National Resistance Movement since its inception, presided over constitutional changes that extended President Museveni’s tenure, and carried Busoga’s flag in national politics.
Her plea before the party’s National Executive Council was that decades of sacrifice entitled her to retain her seat at the high table.
But politics does not pay interest on old receipts. Anita Among, a relative newcomer to the ruling party, presented herself not as a loyalist of yesterday but as a mobiliser for tomorrow.
She boasted of converting opposition MPs, of energising the party, of being a firewall against rivals like Bobi Wine. That is, the currency delegates prefer: relevance for the future, not nostalgia about the past.
Patriarchy in Feminine Form
Superficially, Uganda looks progressive: two female Speakers in succession, both commanding national visibility.
Yet their rise reveals the instrumentalisation of women rather than their emancipation. Kadaga became a liability when she asserted independence.
Among survives by loudly declaring her loyalty to Museveni, even mobilising parliament along sectarian lines when it suits him. This is patriarchy in feminine form: women elevated as long as they serve the patriarchal project.
Globally, this is not unique. Joice Mujuru in Zimbabwe, Joyce Banda in Malawi, even Hillary Clinton in the United States, all faced the paradox of women in politics whose power is constrained by patriarchal structures. Uganda’s spectacle only sharpens the point.
Ethics and Betrayal
There is a cruel irony in Kadaga’s predicament. She presided over the removal of term limits in 2005 and of age limits in 2017.
Those constitutional amputations gave Museveni a political afterlife. Now she discovers that the very system she helped entrench has no room for her.
Betrayal is not an accident – it is a design. Dictatorship survives by discarding its strongest allies, ensuring that no one but the patriarch remains indispensable.
Here lies the civic lesson: politics without ethics devours its own. Civic education must remind citizens and leaders alike that today’s compromises create tomorrow’s traps. Kadaga’s humiliation is the fruit of seeds sown years earlier.
Culture and the Unwritten Laws of Power
Kadaga’s appeal was rooted in culture, age, seniority, and loyalty. Yet Among tapped into a different cultural grammar: vibrancy, energy, submission.
Museveni himself cut Kadaga short by invoking Busoga’s kings, reminding her that even ethnic power is ultimately subsumed under his own.
This echoes traditional monarchies where chiefs rose and fell at the king’s pleasure. Uganda’s modern institutions remain just as hollow, subject to the whims of one patriarch.
The World Should Pay Attention
What makes this saga globally relevant is not its Ugandan particulars but its universal truths. Power rewards relevance over loyalty. Patriarchy can wear a female face.
Institutions that abandon ethics become personal fiefdoms. Leaders who trade principles for survival eventually face betrayal. These are lessons for democracies and autocracies alike.
Uganda’s stage may look far away, but the script is familiar. It is the story of power everywhere: old receipts discarded, new cheques written, and a patriarch still holding the pen.
______________________________________________________
Ms Gertrude Kamya Othieno is a political sociologist, alumna of the London School of Economics, and Executive Director of ACP Community Research & Training Centre. She is also the Founder of the Global People’s Network (GPN), a supra-political movement dedicated to retelling Africa’s story and reimagining global justice | [email protected]
Source: Nilepost News
For More News And Analysis About Uganda Follow Africa-Press
