Uganda deputy speaker elevated after death of predecessor

The Women MP for Bukanda had till today been the deputy Speaker of the country’s legislature. Working under the leadership of the late Jacob Oulanyah.

Her election was done at a special parliamentary sitting at the Kololo grounds overseen by Chief Justice Alfonse Owiny-Dollo.

Anita Among was the candidate of the ruling National Resistance Movement, NRM, and was largely expected to win.

She joins other female speakers like those in The Gambia, South Africa and Rwanda.

Her predecessor, Jacob Oulanyah, was pronounced dead on Sunday, March 20, 2022.

He died in a Seattle hospital at the age of 57 with local media outlets reporting that he died from cancer.

He had recently been rushed for medical treatment with news going rival days ago about his death.

President Yoweri Museveni issued a statement via his social media handles to officially confirm the death.

His post read: “Countrymen and Countrywomen. It is with a lot of sadness that I announce the death of the Rt. Hon. Jacob Oulanyah, the Speaker of Parliament.

Yoweri K Museveni.

“I got information of this sad news at 10.30am, East African time from People that have been with him and the doctor that was caring for him in the intensive care unit,” the post read in part.

The late Oulanyah was a member of the ruling National Resistance Movement and had risen to the Speaker of Uganda’s eleventh Parliament on 24th May, 2021, after defeating the former Speaker Rebecca Alitwala Kadaga.

Oulanya last chaired Parliament on November 24, 2021.