In this article, I examine the representation of women in Makumbi’s (2014) novel, Kintu. I explore how two female characters, Nnabulya and Nnanteza, defy patriarchy by transforming their nominal statuses of queen mother and courtesan into avenues for political power. I premise my analysis on a controversy in scholarship concerning women and power in Buganda. While some scholars assert that women exercise political power in the spaces Buganda tradition allocates them, others reduce women’s roles to ceremonial and powerless positions. I argue that women strategically exploit their stereotyped weaknesses, positions of marginalisation, and gaps in Buganda’s maledominated power structure to assert political agency. I draw on Nnaemeka’s nego-feminism and Goettner-Abendroth’s motherhood as a force of political order, and shared leadership between men and women. The article reveals that women’s wielding of power is a historical reality and fosters a new look at notions of social common good and gender interdependence.