Uganda is marking her 62nd independence day this Wednesday October 9 2024. The independence anniversary marks years of struggles in various fields to have the country reach where it is now. From the field of agriculture, health, education to innovation, the country has gone through various stages with a number of people playing various roles to actualize such developments.
We at The Inspector, carried out a random survey among people to select their own choices of women they think have achieved a lot for this country in this year leading to the 62nd independence day. Those whose names were mentioned severally were 15 and in this briefing, we reveal why the 15 people are recognized as celebs of the 62nd anniversary. Read on!Jane Barekye
The State House moneybags gets to this list by virtue of her excellent work of ensuring that both the President and Vice President are well facilitated to do their Constitutional work. But most importantly, across the various cities in the country, Barekye’s footmarks are visible due to her support towards the operationalization of the Presidential Initiative on Skilling the Youths. From Kampala, Soroti, Mbale, Fort Portal, Kabale, Jinja, Arua, Lira to Gulu cities, there are these skilling hubs where the President directly supports the skilling of youths to become job creators. Barekye according to youths, has impacted many of them across the country under this program which she directly supervises to ensure its success. Her commitment towards this non-partisan program has thus enabled the President fight unemployment. She is lauded for also keeping the program non-discriminatory basing on one’s level of education. The State House comptroller therefore, becomes one of those ladies whose contribution towards this year’s Uganda independence agenda cannot be understated.
Robinah Nabbanja
Just last week, the Prime Minister scooped a global women’s award in New York. She also held a series of meetings including one with the world’s top diplomat-UN Secretary General during the just concluded UN Summit for the Future.
Nabbanja’s accolade was expected given the way she has steered her role as the overseer/coordinator of government programs and also Head Prefect of cabinet. In fact, Nabbanja has not let Museveni down and has lived up to his expectations and his word when he made the decision to appoint her. Museveni told Nabbanja to go out and mobilize the people but also warned her that the office he had given her was a troublesome one. He thus told her not to let him down but turn it around after years of inefficiencies. Indeed Nabbanja has done her part and most of all, she has managed several female ministers who kept speaking a lot of English before the President hoping to upstage her. Their calculation was that Museveni spots them and dump the Kakumiro lady midterm but waapi. The son of Mzee Amos Kaguta has surprised all of them by keeping Nabbanja around to prove to them that leadership is not about speaking too much English but being able to mobilize the masses.
She is the first woman to scoop this position of Prime Minister since Uganda came into play.
Internal fights within the Office of the Prime Minister notwithstanding, Nabbanja has managed to rise above such petty politics and focused on execution of her mandate to the fullest.
It’s no doubt that since her coming to this office, the position of Prime Minister is more pronounced among ordinary wanainchi than ever before.
When we visited Arua park, it was evident that her name and work has sunk in the minds of Ugandans; the reason there’s now a popular slung among ordinary mobile money users called ‘Aka Nabbanja’! It’s used when someone is referring to a mobile money message.
This slung according to them came into play during her regular address to people during covid lockdown where she told people that she would be sending them some cash for upkeep and therefore, asked them to always keep alert for a ttu….tuu…tuuu message. Now, this message is refered to as ‘Aka Nabbanja’ by whoever asks for some cash.
Besides that, those who stay around Kaleerwe/Bwaise/Wandegeya areas actually have a special view of Nabbanja.
Apparently, as roadworks on Entebbe road junction were being planned leading to the closure of that road, a crisis was bound to happen as the Head of State had nowhere to pass to access Entebbe State House. And yet, Kaleerwe was full of ghetto people working as street vendors by the roadside. Majority of these were Bobi Wine’s people and they all feared that they were going to be evicted mercilessly in order to create a path for Museveni to use the Northern bypass/Entebbe express!
A mobilizer, Nabbanja allegedly coined a secret strategy where she would storm these areas at night to meet these vendors.
We’re told she carried a sack of cash and went around talking to vendors one by one. Everyone’s stock was valued plus rent and Nabbanja paid them off with instructions to leave the area. She would also get people’s IDs to ensure proper accountability. That way, according to locals, the vendors willingly left that place without any noise and this strategy by Nabbanja brought smiles on Museveni’s face as it led to organized ‘eviction’ and not chaotic evictions.
Her down to earth approach to issues has made her a superb leader and mobilizer in various aspects causing social change both at grassroots, national and international level. She therefore, can’t miss on this list of women of purpose as the country marks it’s independence.
Jessica Alupo
The Vice President has mainly been visible on the diplomatic scene. As we all know, the Head of State since this term began, lessened on his travels abroad. Instead, he has tapped into Alupo’s energetic ability to keep contacts with the outside world. Professionally, Alupo is also a qualified student of international relations/diplomacy the reason her engagements with the outside world where she represents her boss have been of great value to Uganda.
The second woman to sit in that position of Vice President after Wandira Kazibwe, this daughter of a teacher (George William Epel) has networked Uganda at the United Nations, Russia, China among other giants and articulated the country’s position on several fronts including investment portfolio. No wonder, during this year’s women’s day celebrations in Katakwi, the President bestowed upon her the most prestigious award in the land, bringing her in the same league with a few African leaders who have got this same award. The award was in recognition of her work towards empowering women and leading by example.
Cotilda Nakate Kikomeko
She’s the Minister for Education and Health in Mengo government. Also the one in charge of Nnaabagereka’s office, Ow’ekitiibwa Nakate’s name is ringing a bell in the heads of many ordinary Kabaka’s subjects. Her sector has seen many unprevileged children attain education through the Kabaka Education Fund foundation. And her office is non discriminative as it caters for all children so long as they are within Kabaka’s land. Her efforts therefore, have impacted several souls and families. In fact, it is stated that besides the Katikkiro’s office, Nakate’s office is rivaled by none at Bulange-Mengo in terms of receiving visitors on a daily basis whose main reason is to seek assistance to pursue education for their children. She joins this list of women who have immensely contributed to Uganda’s development.
Mariam Wangadya
The all powerful chairperson of Uganda Human Rights Commission, Hajati Fauzat Mariam Wangadya has been rated as the most daring woman among all ladies working with the President.
Wangadya’s role in defending rights of the oppressed Ugandans this year have been lauded by many especially youth activists. Her commission has intervened on many issues involving youths clashing with security agencies and such interventions have led to speedy trial and in most cases award of bail and or police bonds.
Wangadya this year however, extended her fight from the usual aspect of defending the right to life to fighting financial injustice meted against innocent tax payers by those in positions of responsibility.
Although some activists had earlier accused her of being an NRM fanatic, she has disproved them by making bold decisions when it comes to fighting corruption among leaders.
Her recent outbursts against those who arrested youths protesting against alleged corruption in Parliament made her a darling to many voiceless youth.
For example during our interviews, youths at Katwe praised her for exposing corrupt members of Parliament.
Those who support NRM claimed that the arrest of these MPs had greatly upped Museveni’s ratings among ordinary Ugandans and proved that he is tough against corrupt members in the party.
MPs Cissy Namujju, Paul Akamba and Yusuf Mutembuli will never move again with straight necks in the public after Wangadya cornered them on an alleged financial impropriety mission. They were arrested, detained and charged.
Wangadya’s name continues to have a big space in the minds of many youths seeking jobs because following her actions on the trio, incidents of financial impunity among legislators and most of all, at district level especially in District Service Commission according to Intelligence services have drastically reduced as the perpetrators now exercise caution. She joins this list of women of purpose for Uganda at 62!
Ziria Tibalwa Waako
Anyone who travels to Northern Uganda and West Nile cannot fail to see the kind of development that is taking place there after years of insurgency which affected that area.
Such kind of development is not by mistake! It’s actually as a result of sleepless nights experienced by a team of Ugandan engineers led by Eng. Ziria Tibalwa Waako, the Chief Executive Officer of Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERA) to devise means of taking electricity to those areas to spur wealth creation.
Ziria’s team zeroed on establishing an HPP at Karuma which was finally commissioned three weeks ago by the President. The 600megawatts Karuma hydro power dam, according to locals at Bobi, Kamdin, Vurra and Goli brings an end to the long term issue of lack of a stable power supply to northern Uganda but most importantly, the West Nile region all of which are now connected to the National grid.
Ziria’s efforts to transform the country’s economy through availability of steady power supply cannot be understated. From building HPPs, Thermo to Solar power among other sources, Ziria has ensured that the President’s dream of taking Uganda to the middle income status becomes real. According to Museveni, with electricity in place, people especially the youths will be able to create jobs for themselves and generate income.
Polly Namaye
Formerly, she was the deputy loudspeaker for police. Namaye excelled in her duties the reason the new IGP Abas Byakagaba spotter her for bigger assignments within the force. Namaye was recently among cops who were promoted to higher offices in police bringing her closer to women of influence in security service sector of the country.
Janet Museveni
Men always become active when their homes are stable. This is exactly what Mama Janet Kataha has done. She has supported her husband and lived by his side to morale boost him. Actually, these days if you get a signal that Gen. Museveni is visiting your place, better know that he’s coming in capital letters as he will not leave behind his wife.
Janet besides her other roles as a minister, has acted as a role model to most women on how to care for their families and especially husbands no matter how busy they maybe. Her ways of life and treatment to her husband has inspired many women in the area of strengthening the marriage institution. To prove how influential she is among women, currently in most salons around the country, there’s a popular hairstyle called ‘Janet cut’! It’s trending among majority female leaders including Ministers, MPs and married women who do not want to struggle with long hair yet they want to remain cute and decent in their looks! This is how influential Janet has reached as we mark 62 years of self rule.
Namirembe Bitamazire
She’s the former minister for education and sports and now chancellor Uganda Management Institute. Actually, for one to talk of the revolutions within our education system without mentioning Bitamazire, that would be a sign of living in denial.
Much of the current changes we see in the education sector have got Bitamazire’s signature! Better known as Jjajja UPE, the aged former politician laid the foundation for most of the changes that have taken place in the sector including the ‘digital’ release of final examination results on mobile phones. In fact, among all her initiatives, this is the most outstanding achievement Bitamazire is remembered for among locals. As the country marks 62 years of self rule, Ugandans found it necessary that Bitamazire gets national recognition.
Barbie Itungo Kyagulanyi
It’s now coming to eight years when her husband joined elective politics. The highs and lows her family has gone through have brought out the real Itungo and portrayed her as a woman of courage, resilience and determination.
Balancing the role of being a house wife, mother, business woman and above all, wife to a celebrated politician isn’t a piece of meat to easily grind.
There are many women whose marriages have crumbled simply because their hubbies joined politics. But Barbie Kyagulanyi has withstood all these challenges and remained steadfast with her original mission of being a successful house wife.
She has held her family together and played the role of a shock absorber during turbulent situations her husband at times finds himself in. Locals suggested that unlike Winnie Byanyima who left the country as her hubby Besigye was being tormented, Itungo always keeps her hot smile and occasionally sheds a tear when her hubby lands into problems. Most importantly, Barbie has managed to keep all fruit flies away from her hubby and has proved that joining politics doesn’t necessarily mean losing one’s family. That way, many couples are picking lessons from her.
Rebecca Amuge Otengo
From every corner of Africa, there is nowhere Rebecca’s foot hasn’t stepped. Not because of being in love with travels, but duty, duty and more duties. She’s the head of Uganda’s delegation to Adis Ababa also the country’s Permanent representative at the African Union (AU), United Nations Economic Commission (UNECA) for Africa and Inter Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD). The former state minister is the reason Uganda is a member of the AU Peace and Security Council and other organizations under the AU arrangement because she’s a big lobbyist.
She has chaired the PSC several times and successfully brought Heads of State together to deliberate on a range of issues affecting the continent especially security matters. During Uganda’s tenure as the month’s chair of the PSC (on behalf of Gen. Museveni), Otengo has successfully enabled President Museveni to hold two Heads of State summits on the situation in Sudan. She has also been pivotal in efforts to bring about peace in DR Congo, Central African Republic, South Sudan, Somalia, Kenya and the latest being Gabon where her team is trying to mediate between ousted president Ali Bongo and his ousters led by Nguema Brice Oligui. Much of Otengo’s roles have been at continental level where Uganda is performing exceptionally well compared to many other nations. She joins this list of Women of purpose in view of her Diplomatic work outside Uganda.
Florence Mutyabule
The Senior Presidential Advisor on Busoga is in charge of poverty alleviation. Busoga’s biggest problem is poverty by all standards. There’s poverty in terms of income, poverty in mindset, poverty in nutrition and poverty in education among others.
The subregion is naturally endowed with a good climate, water sources among many other things. However, poverty has continued to lead in this side of the country in spite of the fact that they have had a Vice President (twice), Speaker of Parliament, Secretary General of a ruling party, Ministers, Permanent Secretaries among others. It’s only in Busoga where one finds a family that is given NAADS goats but those goats are treated differently from those the family bought on its own. The family goats look healthier than those given by NAADS. That’s the kind of a situation which Florence Mutyabule has been struggling with in her efforts to fight physical poverty among her people. Mindset change has been her main message in all her tours and slowly by slowly, her message has impacted many. Other areas of her impact include enterprise selection among people, nutrition and education. The locals however , suggest that her only challenge is lack of facilitation. That her office needs to be financially empowered if she’s to make meaningful impact on the ground. She joins this list of women achievers as we mark 62 years.
Phiona Nyamutooro
Relationships are a major cause of instabilities in many Ugandan families. However, Phiona Nyamutooro, the state minister for minerals seems to have a different dose to sort this out. Having snatched a perceived celebrity, many thought Nyamutooro would always be in the news for negative rhetorics with her supposed rival Rema Namakula. However, she has instead proved to be an organizer than agonizer. Nyamutooro is the first woman in Uganda’s history this year to share a cup of tea with her ‘co-wife’ and also allowed her to pose for photos with her former hubby. The same Nyamutooro also posed for a photo with the hubby of her ‘co-wife’. This is a rare incident where women can fight to death even by mere sight of a woman walking with her hubby without ‘permission’.
Don’t forget that in this year, we have had two men losing their ‘sex apparatuses’ because their wives suspected them of having episodes with another woman. Nyamutooro has however, behaved maturely and opted for peace with Rema who originally was the owner of Kenzo. Her fellow women including some Ministers have termed that as witchcraft but Nyamutooro keeps inspiring many women aspiring for love.
Karooro Okurut
One cannot talk of this year’s independence women achievers without talking about Karooro Okurut, the Senior Presidential Advisor on Public Relations.
Communication plays an integral part in management of society. The more a leader engages his people, the more they understand his vision and what he or she means for them. President Yoweri Museveni powerful tool throughout his leadership has been his ability to communicate in a simpler way. He hates using those ‘bombastic’ words when delivering his message. This is exactly what Karooro is doing. The former minister for security has been one of those most visible ladies in the media airing out various advocacy messages targeting mostly the youth and the girl child. This has earned her a title of Mummy by most youths something which emphasizes how close she is to them. She’s simple and treats everyone with decorum regardless of his or her age or position.
An author with many titles to her name, Karooro has inspired many with her regular media pieces touching various topics that directly affect the population. No wonder, back home in Bushenyi, she’s struggling to set up a factory which among others things seeks to make sanitary pads and other youth-related stuff.
The 62nd independence finds Karooro in a comfortable position to qualify as one of the women achievers of this year.
Monica Musenero
This Mugwere lady is the minister for Science and Technology. Talking about women achievers of Uganda at 62 and forget Musenero would be an act of treason or moral dishonesty.
This scientist is the reason Uganda is now talked of as one of the fast rising economies when it comes to innovation. The country now makes Electric Vehicles and all this is thanks to Musenero’s efforts. There are many other science-related innovations that are taking place in the country and Musenero’s name is proudly mentioned. Just last year, she led the country into space science when Uganda launched her first ever satellite into the space. Musenero joins this list as one of the key figures who have inspired many girls to join science but above all, contributed immensely to Uganda’s technological journey. However , locals especially Boda Boda operators are yet to warm up for her electric motorbikes because of limited charging centers but continue to jail her sector as being a promising one. Others include Bamunturaki of Uganda Airlines and Irene Namatovu, wife to MP Geoffrey Lutaaya.
