Why males dominate Uganda Road Fund

Uganda Road Fund executive director Andrew Naimanye has attributed the dominance of male hires at the Fund to the male-dominated nature of the engineering profession.

He made these remarks during his appearance before Parliament's Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities, and State Enterprises to respond to the Auditor General’s queries for the financial year 2022/2023.

Naimanye was responding to queries by the committee chairperson, also Busiro East MP, Medard Sseggona, over the lack of female staff among the Fund's representatives to the committee.

In response, Naimanye informed the committee that this situation reflects the profession's male dominance and clarified that there is no legal requirement mandating the secretariat to ensure gender balance.

Not all doom and gloom

It should, however, be noted that it is not all doom and gloom for women in male-dominated sectors like engineering.

Years ago, female engineers were unheard of. The engineering sector was considered generally a male field. Women then confined themselves to jobs that society regarded as feminine.

However, today, women are breaking gender barriers, venturing into these fields and performing exceptionally well. 

There are exceptional women behind Uganda’s improved road networks.

Eng. Rebecca Abonyo

By 2021, civil engineer Rebecca Abonyo had taken part in the development of the Kampala-Jinja Expressway. 

She also participated in feasibility studies for Kitgum-Kidepo, Atiak-Laropi-Afoji and Dokolo-Amolatar roads, among others.

Abonyo pooled over 12 years of experience in the planning, design, and execution of infrastructure projects. 

Eng. Zaituni Nakonde

Nakonde managed the reconstruction of the Masaka-Mbarara Road, the construction of the New Mbarara Bypass and the reconstruction of the Mbarara-Ntungamo road. 

By 2021, she was also managing the design and build of Buhimba-Nalweyo-Bulamagi and Bulamagi-Igayaza-kakumiro road (93Km). 

She has been overseeing road construction projects for over 15 years.

Eng. Harriet Namuwonge 

She is the brains behind the completion of the: Mukono-Katosi, Kanoni-Sembabule-VillaMaria, Mpigi-Kanoni, Mbarara-Kikagati-Murongo.

According to the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA), she continues to push for structural integrity standards in the supervision of UNRA works.

She is a civil engineer with proficiency in troubleshooting project risks and providing mitigation avenues. 

Namuwonge has to her name 350km of completed roads in Uganda.