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Uganda's Minister of State for Defence, Sarah Mateke Nyirabashitsi, has died, ICT and national guidance minister Dr Chris Baryomunsi announced on Saturday.

She was also the Woman Member of Parliament for Kisoro district.

“I am sad to announce the death of Nyirabashitsi, the State Minister of Defence and also Kisoro Woman MP. May the good Lord comfort the family and rest her soul in eternal peace," said Baryomunsi.

Funeral arrangements will be communicated in due course, he added.

Baryomunsi said Nyirabashitsi died at Mengo Hospital in Uganda's capital Kampala.

Defence spokesperson Brig. Gen. Felix Kulayigye confirmed that the minister died Saturday morning after she was rushed to Mengo Hospital.

Uganda's Minister of State for Defence, Sarah Mateke Nyirabashitsi, has died. She was also the Woman Member of Parliament for Kisoro district. (Photo by Nancy Nanyonga)

“It is sad. She passed away at Mengo Hospital where she had been taken this morning. She was in office on Friday and she was scheduled to travel to South Korea this afternoon. Her passing on is sudden,” said Kulayigye.

A member of her family said the former youth state minister was battling heart-related complications.

Nyirabashitsi was the daughter of former foreign affairs state minister Philemon Mateke.

The third-born in a family of six children, she was born on July 15, 1974, in Chahi sub-county in Kisoro district.

Nyirabashitsi went to Seseme Integrated School and Mary Hill High School where she completed her secondary education.

She enrolled in Bugema University, where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in business administration.

In June 2021, President Yoweri Museveni appointed her Minister of State for Gender, Labour and Social Development (Youth and Children Affairs), replacing Florence Nakiwala Kiyingi.

In April 2024, she was appointed defence state minister.