Lawyer Godwin Toko has offered a detailed political reflection on Uganda’s ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM), following Parliament Speaker Anita Among’s dismissal of claims that she is preparing to contest for the presidency.
His remarks, shared in a public commentary, revisited a series of past political episodes involving senior figures in the party, drawing parallels between earlier controversies and current speculation around Among’s political future.
Toko traced the pattern back to the late 2000s, when then Vice President Prof. Gilbert Bukenya was widely linked to alleged presidential ambitions.
In his view, media narratives and internal tensions at the time helped fuel suspicion and political friction within the ruling establishment.
“Habibi,in the late ‘2000s, Bukenya, the Vice President was said to be eyeing the presidency. Reports of secret meetings with Catholic Church leaders and elders in Buganda were carried by tabloids,” Toko noted, recalling how political rumours circulated around senior leadership.
He added that the political atmosphere around Bukenya later shifted dramatically as internal rivalries intensified, with accusations of hidden networks within the party emerging publicly.
“Suddenly, Bukenya started ranting about an ‘invisible’ mafia in the NRM fighting him,” he said, suggesting that the internal dynamics of the ruling party often take a confrontational turn when leadership ambitions surface.
Toko also reflected on former Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi’s political trajectory, arguing that his rise and eventual fall from influence followed a similar pattern of speculation, internal resistance, and eventual open ambition.
“After 2011, Mbabazi couldn’t hold his own ambitions any longer, and some said he planned to cause an upset in the NRM that would take the big man by surprise,” he wrote, adding that Mbabazi’s eventual presidential bid came at a politically disadvantageous moment.
He further referenced former Inspector General of Police Gen. Kale Kayihura, noting that he too was once linked to alleged political ambitions, which he denied before later exiting the security leadership space.
“Some said Kayihura himself wanted to become president. He denied it, and described the claims as ‘baseless allegations’,” Toko observed, adding that his subsequent removal marked another shift in the internal balance of power.
On former Speaker Rebecca Kadaga, Toko noted that similar speculation followed her rise to prominence, though she publicly rejected such claims. He argued that her political standing later changed after losing the speakership.
Turning to the present, he said Anita Among’s situation fits a long-standing pattern within the NRM.
“Now, it is the turn of Among. Claims that she was eyeing the big seat started almost as soon as she became speaker,” he said, adding that such denials have become routine among senior officials navigating internal party dynamics.
Toko concluded that the NRM’s political structure continues to generate recurring cycles of rivalry, speculation, and strategic positioning among its most powerful figures.