The X account that once belonged to Anita Among when she was speaker of Parliament is now in the hands of journalist Remmy Bahat’s news start-up, Global Africa Brief. The takeover happened over the weekend.
The account, which used to be @AnitahAmong, is now @GlobalAfricaHQ and is called Global Africa Brief. It still has about 614,000 followers, the same as Among had.
Among’s old posts have been deleted, and the account’s bio now reads “The Brief Beyond Headlines”.
Bahati, a former NBS TV reporter, has publicly served as a founder of Global Africa Brief.
In a September post after a dinner hosted by President Donald Trump for heads of state during UN General Assembly, she wrote that she was proud to engage African leaders. She said she was doing so “as we continue to build Global Africa Brief”.
On its website, the organisation says it is a pan-African news service. Its homepage carries short briefs on African economies, health and politics.
Among remains the Woman MP for Bukedea, although her fortunes have fallen since May, when she was instructed to leave the race for Speaker of the 12th Parliament.
She did so, and shortly, security agencies raided her properties and started investigations into alleged corruption, abuse of office and money laundering.
Later, the state dropped charges against her, but she has yet to physically appear at Parliament.
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Yet any likely link between Among and Bahati would be surprising for political observers in Uganda. After she left for the US, Bahati became critical of the government and its handling of the opposition.
In October 2022, armed men in plain clothes raided her father’s home in Fort Portal, taking her brother Kelvin Katungi and cousin Latif Mugume. The army said five people were arrested for impersonation and illegal possession of a firearm.
She has also clashed with Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the Chief of Defence Forces and first son on X.
In April 2023, Muhoozi called her “ugly” on X, and she responded that the remark was objectification. She said men who lust after women on social media feed rape culture.
So far, there is no evidence that Bahati and Among struck any financial deal, but it is confounding how the former speaker’s account ended up in the hands of a government critic.
Bahati worked for about six years as a staff reporter at NBS TV, covering politics and Parliament. In May 2013, she was among journalists beaten by police at a protest over the closure of the Daily Monitor and Red Pepper.
She later moved to the US and earned a Master of Science in Journalism at Columbia University in New York. She then worked as a global communicator at the UN headquarters.
