Democratic Party (DP) secretary general Gerald Siranda has abandoned party president general Norbert Mao and addressed reports of being paid to support Anita Among to retain her speaker job.
Norbert Mao, currently the justice and constitutional affairs minister and the newly elected Laroo-Pece MP, has expressed his intention to wrestle the speaker job from incumbent and Bukedea District Woman MP Anita Among.
Gerald Siranda is currently Uganda’s representative to the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA), which sits in Arusha, Tanzania.
Although he has no vote in the Ugandan parliament when the House convenes to elect the new head of the legislative assembly, Siranda has endorsed Among.
Siranda says Speaker Anita Among is his mother and that he cannot abandon her in the speaker race.
In fact, Siranda says he is an EALA MP “basically because my mother Honorable Anita Among allowed” even some within his own party were not even supportive of his bid to represent the country in the regional parliament.
Siranda also says that even the Democratic Party leaders, including Norbert Mao, know that Anita Among is his mother.
He also addressed reports of being paid to support Anita Among, and abandon Norbert Mao, arguing that it is time to thank Anita Among for her contribution to his life and career as a politician.
“I said she is my mother [and] made me who I am. I must appreciate,” said Siranda at a recent event during which he spoke in English and an interpreter translated into Lusoga.
He made it clear that he did not know how many times speaker Anita Among has been there for him, and that he is confident she will retain her speaker job.
Norbert Mao has insisted he will not drop out of the speakership race, labelling incumbent speaker Anita Among an accidental speaker, and invoking the spirit of late speaker Jacob Oulanyah into the race. (See Details Here, There and Over There).
It should be remembered that as a fruit of the cooperation agreement between Norbert Mao’s DP and Museveni’s NRM, ruling party MPs voted for Siranda to become an MP in regional parliament EALA, as reported Here and There.
Read the full cooperation agreement between Norbert Mao’s DP and Museveni’s NRM, word by word Here.
Meanwhile, Norbert Mao is among the people rumored to be under consideration for the vice president job in Museveni’s cabinet for 2026, as reported Here.
