Power rarely collapses suddenly, it is fattened, decorated and protected until its contradictions become too heavy to conceal. As Lord Action warned: “power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely”.
In the theatre of statecraft, every actor knows that “si vis pacem,para bellum”.If you want peace, prepare for war, because utility expires the moment it ceases to serve the center.
And in such systems, silence is never neutral. “Qui tacet consentire videtur”-he who is silent is taken to agree so those once shielded find themselves exposed when the winds shift.
For once the calculations are made and the knives prepared, there is no turning back.
“Alea iacta est”, the die is cast.
Politics, like war, is governed by axioms older than constitutions. It rewards utility, punishes obsolescence, and remembers loyalty only as long as it serves the moment. In the theater of statecraft, no actor is ever too high to be recast, and no shield too polished to be lowered when the winds of public mood shift.
What follows is not an indictment. It is a dissection.
Isaac Christopher Lubogo invites you into a philosophical and metaphorical autopsy of power in contemporary Uganda, an examination of how systems elevate, protect, utilize, and eventually isolate the very figures they once adorned.
At the center of this discourse stands the name that has dominated Uganda’s political lexicon for years: Rt. Hon. Annet Anita Among, referred to here as AAA.
From parliamentary obscurity to the Speaker’s chair, from trusted enforcer to public lightning rod, her trajectory embodies the ancient ritual Lubogo describes as “fattening for slaughter.”
Not a literal destruction, but a political preparation, the grooming of a figure for eventual sacrifice when institutional survival demands a scapegoat.
Lubogo does not ask you to accept guilt where none is proven. He asks you to see the pattern. To recognize how African political systems manufacture hyper-visible personalities to absorb the anger that should rightly fall on faceless structures.
To understand why symbols, burn faster than individuals, and why utility expires faster than loyalty in Machiavellian corridors.
This is a discourse on power, symbolism, accountability, and the psychology of political survival. It draws from history, proverb, philosophy, and the cold logic of statecraft. It respects the presumption of innocence and the dignity of all persons. It is opinion, analysis, and warning, not accusation.
So, brace yourself. The ride is cerebral, surgical, and unflinching.
From us at The Exposure Uganda, we invite you to enjoy Isaac Christopher Lubogo’s ride, as AAA’s name dominates debate in her desperate quest to bounce back amidst all odds.
The Politics of Fattening: Anita Among and the Anatomy of Political Slaughter. By: Isaac Christopher Lubogo.
15 May 2026
Disclaimer.
This discourse is a philosophical, political, and metaphorical reflection on the nature of power, political systems, elite construction, and public accountability within contemporary African governance. It does not purport to assert criminal liability, personal guilt, or factual wrongdoing against Anita Among or any other individual. The arguments herein are interpretive, analytical, and opinion-based, grounded in political philosophy, historical observation, and civic commentary.
The metaphor of “fattening for slaughter” is employed symbolically to examine how political systems often elevate, protect, utilize, and eventually isolate public figures in moments of institutional crisis or public dissatisfaction. Readers are therefore encouraged to engage this work as a critical intellectual discourse on governance, power, symbolism, and statecraft rather than as a statement of verified fact or malicious intent.
The discourse equally recognizes the constitutional principle of the presumption of innocence, respect for human dignity, and the importance of fair public dialogue in democratic societies.
The political history of Uganda, and indeed of many post-colonial African states, teaches one painful lesson repeatedly: power rarely collapses suddenly. It is usually fattened first. Decorated. Praised. Protected. Elevated beyond ordinary criticism. And then, when the contradictions become too heavy to conceal, the same system that nourished the figure begins preparing the knives.
In this sense, the story surrounding Anita Among increasingly resembles the ancient political ritual of “fattening for slaughter.” Not necessarily a literal destruction, but a calculated preparation of a political actor for eventual sacrifice at the altar of regime preservation, public anger, institutional survival, and elite reconfiguration.
In many African societies, the animal prepared for slaughter is not starved. It is fed generously. Protected from hardship. Groomed. Displayed proudly before the public feast. Yet the feeding is not always an act of love; sometimes it is merely preparation for consumption. Politically, this metaphor becomes deeply instructive.
For years, Anita Among’s political ascent was astonishingly rapid. She rose from parliamentary obscurity into the very center of Uganda’s political architecture. She became Speaker, accumulated enormous influence, commanded loyalty networks, projected confidence, and increasingly embodied the muscular face of state authority. Around her emerged the familiar ecosystem that often surrounds rapidly ascending political elites in Africa: praise singers, opportunists, patronage brokers, and ideological defenders.
In authoritarian or semi-authoritarian political systems, rapid elevation is rarely accidental. Systems create political shields when they need them. Sometimes they require loyal enforcers. Sometimes they need symbolic figures capable of absorbing public anger on behalf of the deeper state. Sometimes they need individuals who can centralize controversial decisions while insulating the ultimate centers of power from direct accountability.
That is where the danger begins.
The tragedy of political fattening is that the beneficiary often mistakes utility for permanence.
A ruler may clap for you today not because you are indispensable, but because you are presently useful. The same crowd chanting your name may tomorrow pretend never to have known you. African political history is full of such examples. Men and women who once seemed untouchable suddenly became liabilities. Once public frustration intensified, the system instinctively searched for a sacrificial offering to preserve itself.
One must therefore examine the evolving public perception of Anita Among carefully. Increasingly, she is no longer viewed merely as an individual politician. She has become a symbol onto which many Ugandans project broader frustrations: corruption allegations, parliamentary extravagance, elite detachment, patronage politics, suppression of dissent, and the widening emotional distance between rulers and ordinary citizens struggling economically.
This transformation from politician to symbol is politically dangerous.
Individuals can survive scandals. Symbols rarely survive collective anger.
The problem with becoming the face of excess in a poor society is that eventually the political system calculates costs. When international criticism mounts, when donor discomfort grows, when internal factions reposition themselves, and when public anger threatens institutional legitimacy, systems begin strategic distancing.
The once-protected figure slowly notices reduced enthusiasm, selective silence from former allies, controlled leaks, carefully timed criticism, and subtle abandonment disguised as neutrality.
Political slaughter in this context does not always mean imprisonment or assassination. Sometimes it means isolation. Sometimes reputational destruction. Sometimes gradual political suffocation. Sometimes tactical exposure to public outrage without the previous institutional protection.
And history shows that systems often survive by sacrificing visible actors while preserving invisible structures.
The irony is profound. Those who most aggressively defend systems of unchecked power often become the first casualties once the system needs cleansing symbols. Machiavellian politics has little room for permanent friendship. Utility expires.
There is also a deeper philosophical dimension here concerning the psychology of power itself. Excessive praise is one of the most dangerous substances in politics. It intoxicates leaders into believing they are invincible. They stop hearing warning horns. They dismiss criticism as jealousy. They surround themselves with applause instead of truth. The Baganda proverb “akaanafa tekawulira ng’ombe” becomes relevant here: the one destined for danger ignores the warning horn. Political arrogance frequently begins where political listening ends.
Equally relevant is the proverb “olunatta embwa lugigala enyindo” — that which kills the dog first destroys its sense of smell. Politically, this means systems often destroy a leader’s instinct before destroying the leader. The person loses the ability to detect danger, betrayal, shifting loyalties, and public mood. Luxury, praise, and insulation slowly anesthetize political senses.
Yet this discourse should not be reduced merely to an attack on Anita Among personally. It is bigger than one individual. It is a reflection on the anatomy of power in Uganda and beyond. Political systems often manufacture hyper-visible personalities precisely so that structural accountability can remain invisible. Citizens become emotionally fixated on personalities while institutions evade deeper scrutiny.
Today it may be Anita Among. Tomorrow it will be another political figure elevated, defended, fattened, and eventually abandoned.
The deeper question therefore is not whether Anita Among is being prepared for political slaughter. The deeper question is why African political systems repeatedly construct disposable political gods instead of durable democratic institutions.
For nations that personalize power eventually cannibalize their own elites.
And perhaps the cruelest aspect of political slaughter is this: the crowd that once celebrated the feast rarely remembers who was sacrificed to prepare it.
About the writer:
Isaac Christopher Lubogo is a Ugandan born legal scholar, author, lawyer and public intellectual.
He is currently a Doctor of Law fellow at Makerere University School of Law, working on a thesis titled Ubuntu and the Law in Uganda: Towards A New Constitutional Dispensation.
He is also the founder and principal of Suigeneris Consultancy/Legal Legacy which runs Suigeneris Publishers and the Suigeneris Law App.
Lubogo is the kind of figure who writes both heavy academic texts and public-facing political/philosophical commentary like the one you have just read above.
