Beti Kamya's almost chameleonic political life needs another colour trick. For woman who has walked the tightrope between opposition firebrand and government loyalist with remarkable, if sometimes bewildering, dexterity, it should not be a long-term katebe.
Certainly, the netizens will not see Ms Kamya pulling tyres and flexing on TikTok under the guise of keeping fit like this other retired general.
Born on November 30, 1955, in Nakuru, Kenya, Kamya is now 69 years old and stands at a crossroads in her political journey. Her recent loss of the post of Inspector General of Government (IGG) to Justice Aisha Naluzze Batala has reignited speculation over where her boat might sail next.
Kamya’s career has been anything but linear. A commerce graduate from Makerere University, she cut her teeth in Uganda’s business landscape, holding marketing and managerial roles at Uganda Leather and Tanning Industries, Nyanza Textiles, Uganda Breweries, and later serving as executive director of the Uganda Wildlife Education Centre.
These roles honed her organizational and leadership skills and later informed her public service approach.
Her political life began in earnest in the early 2000s with Reform Agenda (2001–2004), a pressure group advocating democratic reforms. So fierce was she at Reform Agenda that it looked like it was her brainchild.
When the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) was founded in December 2004, she was there and became a special envoy to party president Dr Kizza Besigye.
“I can never believe anything Museveni says,” she once said. It was one of the many critical things she had said or written in newspaper columns about the man she would later living praising.
In a 2008 newspaper article, she questioned the president’s intentions and legacy:
“Watching how he has systematically destroyed every sector of this country; the civil service, health, education, industries, police, Parliament, judiciary, transport, the executive, I am beginning to wonder whether a born national would do this to his or her country. Museveni seems to have a vengeance on Uganda, as if the country was unkind to him and must pay for his suffering. No one can do what Museveni has done to Uganda unless they have a score to settle.”
Kamya’s critique did not shy away from prescience, highlighting sectarian favoritism and warning that Uganda was being led down a dangerous path:
“But where is Museveni’s heart? Where does he yearn to go and if nowhere, why destroy the only country he knows? Can’t he see that this sectarian thing he is nurturing is not only dangerous but also unsustainable?”
Yet, Kamya’s trajectory took a dramatic turn. By the 2010s, she had aligned herself with the National Resistance Movement (NRM), praising Museveni’s stamina and pledging to mobilize voters for him in Kampala during the 2021 elections:
“I want to pledge that in 2021, you will get 80% in Kampala. The little problems we inherited will be solved. Museveni is still energetic. There is no one in Uganda who has more stamina than President Museveni.”
Despite the electoral setback in Kampala, Kamya went on to serve as Minister for Kampala Capital City Authority and Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development before being appointed IGG in 2021, cementing her place within the corridors of power.
Now, Kamya faces a moment of reckoning. With her IGG tenure concluded, she is once again without a post, and the political landscape she navigates is complex. She must recalibrate her strategy if she is to remain relevant.
So, where might she go from here? One possibility is an appointment as a presidential advisor, leveraging her experience and intimate knowledge of both the opposition and the machinery of government.
Alternatively, she could pivot towards the leadership of a government agency or parastatal, a path familiar to former ministers who wish to retain influence without the spotlight of frontline politics.
When she still had the aura and colourful tailfeathers of a peacock, Kamya once bragged that she would never go for anything lower than Vice-President if she was to accept a job in the NRM government.
She has just lost a much-less job and perhaps it is time to live that dream of something bigger, a higher office such as Vice-President or Prime Minister.
Another pathway is a role within the NRM party hierarchy, perhaps succeeding Richard Todwong at party headquarters, where she could shape strategy, candidate selection, and mobilization.
Despite her multiple transitions, Kamya’s public perception remains a double-edged sword. Her critics accuse her of opportunism, citing her oscillation from fierce opposition to staunch regime supporter.
At 69, Kamya is a seasoned operator, with decades of experience in business, public administration, and politics. Her knowledge of the opposition, coupled with her understanding of government processes, gives her a rare vantage point: she can bridge divides, negotiate influence, and chart a course that few other politicians of her generation can.
Her next steps will not merely reflect personal ambition—they will signal her reading of Uganda’s political future. Will she anchor herself firmly within the NRM, leveraging loyalty for continued appointments?
Will she seek a strategic exit into diplomatic service, perhaps as an ambassador? Or will she reinvent herself as a kingmaker behind the scenes, shaping the party’s direction while waiting for the next political tide?
Whatever choice Kamya makes, one certainty remains: she is a survivor in Uganda’s mercurial political waters. The loss of the IGG post may be a temporary setback, but for a woman who has navigated opposition activism, cabinet politics, and regulatory oversight, it is unlikely to be a permanent one.
As she once asked about Museveni’s heart, Kamya now faces her own question: where does her boat sail next?