Kampala, Uganda | URN | An X account formerly used by former Speaker of parliament, Anita Annet Among has been renamed @GlobalAfricaHQ, stripped of its previous posts and repurposed as a pan-African news platform.
It is not clear who authorised the change and whether the account was voluntarily transferred or compromised. The account, which previously operated under the handle @AnitahAmong, retains approximately 614,000 followers and its reported November 2020 creation date.
Technical identifiers cited in reports indicate that the account now operating as Global Africa Brief is the same account previously associated with Among, rather than a newly created profile that has independently attracted her audience.
The rebranding has prompted speculation on Ugandan social media about a possible account takeover, commercial transaction or deliberate transfer. However, no publicly established evidence confirms that the account was hacked, sold or transferred under any particular arrangement.
Among, who represents Bukedea District as Woman Member of Parliament after serving as Speaker of the 11th Parliament, had not publicly explained the change by Sunday, October 11.
The operators of Global Africa Brief had also not publicly disclosed the terms under which the account’s identity and audience came to be associated with the news platform. The account once served as a prominent channel for political communication, parliamentary updates and messages to Among’s constituents.
Its conversion into a news outlet has effectively removed that established political identity while preserving the audience accumulated under it. According to X, a username beginning with the @ symbol can be changed without creating a new account.
The account’s numerical user ID, by contrast, identifies the underlying profile independently of its public-facing handle.
Reports have identified the numerical user ID as 1325766248458809351 for both the former @AnitahAmong profile and the current @GlobalAfricaHQ account.
The reported continuity of the identifier, creation date and follower count strongly supports the conclusion that the account itself has been renamed.
The account’s audience or followers remained attached to the profile even as its name, branding, content and apparent editorial purpose changed.
The deletion of previous posts has also removed the readily accessible public record of the account’s earlier communications. Although deleting posts does not establish wrongdoing, the disappearance of the archive makes it more difficult for followers and researchers to trace the transition or assess the account’s former messaging alongside its new output.
The available technical indicators establish continuity of the account, but they cannot independently reveal who controlled it at the time of the change, whether Among consented to the rebranding, or whether a financial transaction occurred.
Who is behind Global Africa Brief? The rebranded account operates under the name Global Africa Brief and links to globalafricabrief.com. Its current identity is that of a news-oriented platform covering African political, economic and social developments.
A report linked the emerging operation to Ugandan journalist Remmy Bahati, citing her public references to building Global Africa Brief and her contributions to the website. Bahati has reportedly described herself as a founder of the initiative.
However, that association does not, by itself, establish that she owns the X account, negotiated its transfer or participated in any transaction involving Among. No publicly documented agreement or direct confirmation from the parties has established the terms of the account’s rebranding.
Uganda has experienced a related social-media security incident involving a major public institution.. In May 2023, Parliament’s official Twitter account was taken over by unknown actors. Chris Obore, then the legislature’s director of communication and public affairs, confirmed the breach and said efforts to recover control had failed.
Parliament subsequently directed users to a replacement account for official communications. Uganda Radio Network reported the incident on May 10, 2023.
The episode demonstrated how losing control of an established account can disrupt an institution’s communication with the public. It also highlighted the difficulty of restoring a trusted digital identity once access has been lost.
But the two cases should not be conflated. Parliament publicly acknowledged that its account had been hacked in 2023. In the present case, the available information establishes a reported change of identity, not an independently verified intrusion.
A voluntary rebranding, a negotiated transfer and an unauthorised takeover can produce superficially similar results. Determining which occurred requires evidence beyond the account’s changed name and deleted posts.
Among served as Speaker from March 2022 until the end of the 11th Parliament in May 2026. Her tenure and subsequent political position attracted public scrutiny, including allegations of corruption and sanctions reported by foreign governments.
Reports also described investigations involving properties linked to Among in 2026, her withdrawal from the contest for Speaker of the 12th Parliament and her subsequent public remarks about President Yoweri Museveni.
These developments provide context for the reduced visibility of her former account, but do not establish why it was renamed. Her public silence on the account change leaves several competing explanations unresolved. She may have voluntarily relinquished control, authorised a rebranding, lost access or chosen to communicate through other channels.
The Computer Misuse Act, 2011, as amended in 2022, has contained provisions addressing unauthorised access and interference with electronic data. In March 2026, however, the Constitutional Court struck down several provisions of the amended law on procedural grounds, prompting the government to abandon its appeal and consider returning the legislation to Parliament.
The post Anita Among’s X account rebranded as news outlet appeared first on The Independent Uganda:.