KAMPALA.As the race for the next speaker of parliament heats up, ruling NRM legislator who form majority in the House have been summoned to attend a thanksgiving ceremony for Jacob Oboth Oboth, the current Minister of Defence and Veterans Affairs who is now the endorsed flag bearer for the party.
All NRM are expected without fail attend the functioned Mr. Oboth Oboth has organized at his home in mukono on Saturday from where party officials are expected to unveil him as their candidate for speakership after dropping the outgoing office bearer Anita Among.
Daudi Kabanda ,the secretary general of Patriotic League of Uganda(PLU) which is lately emerging as an extension of NRM ,but with more upper hand on key decisions in government, said the function is going to be used as a Launchpad for Oboth Oboth’s speakership bid. “ There is no doubt we are all meeting at his home tomorrow.(Saturday) Our candidate for deputy speaker who is a female will be announce soon” he said on Friday evenning
The race for speakership took a yet another twist early this week with the powerful First son and chief of Defense Forces Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba backing Oboth Oboth.
In his latest post on popular microblogging platform X (formerly Twitter) Gen Muhoozi said Oboth -Oboth has been the best minister for five years and fit to steer the 12th Parliament.
“He has been the best Minister in our government for the past 5 years. I want to be the first to endorse him for Speaker of Parliament (2026-2031). God bless Hon.Oboth-Oboth!,” he tweeted
Gen Muhoozi further raised political temperatures with another pair of hardline posts asserting his influence within Uganda’s evolving power structure where his father Gen Yoweri Museveni has been at the helm for 40 years and still counting.
“Those who doubt my power in my country. Try me now and find out,” he wrote.
In another post, Gen Muhoozi added: “No one should even dream of trying me. I will not stop for anything.”
This comes days after the Patriotic League of Uganda (PLU] ,a political pressure group allied to ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) which Gen Muhoozi heads , dramatically withdrew its earlier endorsement of Ms Among and Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa for the top parliamentary positions. Gen Muhoozi accuses Ms Among of being corrupt after the latter obtained the latest model of Rolls –Royce valued at Shs3.4billion . Ms Among’s proponents including Masaka City Woman MP Justine Nameere has since attacked PLU secretary general Daudi Kabanda of who first communicated the PLU position on speakership, saying it was his individual thinking . Outspoken Nameere argued that Ms Among had already been vetted and recommended by the NRM Central Executive Committee and Kabanda had no authority to order NRM legislators to switch allegiance.
“You have braved all manner of false accusations against you, this is just passing wind! CEC vetted you and made its recommendation and soon in caucus we NRM MPs who are the majority, shall support that recommendation accordingly!” Nameere wrote alongside a photograph of herself with Among.
But the confrontation quickly escalated into personal attacks after Kabanda challenged Nameere over election declaration forms linked to her Masaka City political contest.
“As you also prepare your declaration forms from all the polling stations of Masaka City. Justice Teko has already been guided on how to deal with that case,” Kabanda posted.
Nameere fired back aggressively, accusing Kabanda of blackmail and questioning accountability within PLU-linked charity activities.
“Oh, and while you’re at it, feel free to explain what happened to the billions Ugandans donated running for ‘charity’. Some receipts and a spreadsheet of the poor people you supposedly helped would be nice!” she wrote.
But defuse the tensions, Gen Muhoozi came out and issued a stern warning to Ms Nameere .
In a strongly worded post on X on Friday morning, Muhoozi appeared to directly target unnamed female political actors he accused of becoming overexcited by proximity to power.
“I advise some ladies to steer clear of some of these issues. It doesn’t matter how many times Mzee calls you. That doesn’t make you amount to anything! I remember Winnie Karagwa being as excited as some of you in 1986,” Gen Muhoozi posted.
The comments were widely interpreted in political circles as a warning directed at Nameere, who has in recent days mounted fierce attacks against Kabanda and PLU officials while openly defending Speaker Anita Annet Among. Nameere was on Friday evening arrested by the military after reportedly demobilizing NRm mPs not to attend Oboth Oboth thanksgiving ceremony.