Reports that Anita Annet Among has acquired a 2025 Rolls-Royce Cullinan valued at billions of shillings have triggered widespread public debate and criticism on social media, with opposition figures and commentators questioning the timing and source of the luxury purchase.
According to information circulating online, the luxury SUV was reportedly imported from the United Kingdom and airlifted into Uganda by Albeity Limited, a company said to have previously supplied high-end vehicles to Parliament.
The vehicle, estimated to cost about £440,000 (approximately Shs2.2 billion before taxes), was reportedly assessed taxes amounting to between Shs1.2 billion and Shs1.6 billion by the Uganda Revenue Authority.
Social media users claimed the Speaker described the vehicle as a “birthday gift from her bosses,” although no official statement had been issued by Among or Parliament by press time.
The reports emerged just weeks before the anticipated swearing-in of Uganda’s 12th Parliament and have fueled renewed scrutiny of the lifestyles of top public officials amid ongoing economic pressures facing many Ugandans.
Norbert Mao weighed into the controversy during a public discussion shared online, linking Among’s international sanctions to alleged corruption rather than Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act.
“Anita Among wasn’t sanctioned because of the Anti-Homosexuality Act, it was about corruption,” Mao said. “She’s an injured soldier, but who needs rehabilitation, not decoration.”
Mao further alleged that the Speaker had accumulated extensive properties across Kampala and was pursuing additional large-scale investments.
“She has put up multiple buildings across Kigo and beyond, yet the new Parliament chambers remain stalled,” Mao said.
He also claimed that Among had acquired property on Dewinton Road and was planning to establish a five-star hotel.
“Now, she’s eyeing AFCON money, waiting to steal from that pot,” Mao alleged, without providing evidence.
Political commentator Dickens Okello claimed on X that the Rolls-Royce had arrived in Uganda about a month ago and was intended to be unveiled during the Speaker’s swearing-in ceremony.
“The URA’s excise, import, VAT, withholding and infrastructure taxes were billed at about Shs1.6bn,” Okello posted. “She went to ask for a waiver hence ‘reporting’ herself.”
Other social media users compared the estimated cost of the luxury SUV to public expenditure allocations recently approved by Parliament.
One user, identified as Samwise Gamgee, claimed the vehicle’s estimated Shs3.4 billion value exceeded supplementary budget allocations directed to several districts.
The controversy comes amid heightened political competition ahead of leadership elections in the next Parliament, where Among is expected to seek another term as Speaker.
Neither Among nor her office had publicly responded to the claims by the time of publication.