Uganda’s inspirational women

In recent years Ugandan women have been in a position to take up top-ranking jobs, be it in academia, government parastatals, and even political offices, and in a traditionally male-dominated space these women have been able to contribute to national development, and they have inspired other women to aspire to be great leaders. New Vision profiles some of Uganda’s inspirational women.

Rebecca Alitwala Kadaga

She is the current woman Member of Parliament (MP) for the Kamuli District in Busoga sub-region, East of Uganda, a position she has steadily held since 1989. 

Kadaga has also been the Speaker of the Parliament of Uganda since May 19, 2011, having replaced Vice President Edward Ssekandi who had held the position from 2001 to 2011 whereas Kadaga served as his Deputy. She is the first Ugandan woman to hold the position of Speaker of Parliament and served as Secretary-General of the East African Women Parliamentarians Association.

Kadaga is also the Chairperson of the Parliamentary Commission and Business Committee which vets presidential appointees.

She is a lawyer by profession who even opened her own law firm, Kadaga and Company Advocates in 1984, but after six years of opening the firm, she joined politics becoming the Kamuli woman MP, a position she has held to date.

Kadaga was born on May 24, 1956, in Kamuli district to George Wilson Kadaga Madali and Eva Kagoya Kadaga of Mbulamuti village, Mbulamuti sub-county in Kamuli District.

She got educated at Shimoni Demonstration Primary School, St. Katherine Senior Secondary School in Lira, and Namasagali College. 

She holds a Bachelor of Law, from Makerere University, a Diploma in Legal Practice, from the Law Development Centre, and a Master in Women’s Law, from the University of Zimbabwe.

Other positions she has held include; Minister of State for Regional Cooperation (Africa and the Middle East), Minister of State for Communication and Aviation, and Minister for Parliamentary Affairs. She was also President, of the Federation of Uganda Women Lawyers.

Janet Kataha Museveni

She is the First Lady of Uganda and the Minister of Education and Sports. Janet Kataha Museveni was appointed Minister of Education and Sports on June 6, 2016. She previously served as Minister for Karamoja Affairs in the Cabinet of Uganda from May 27, 2011, to June 6, 2016. She also served as the elected Member of Parliament representing Ruhaama County in Ntungamo District, between 2011 and 2016.

Janet Kataha Museveni got educated at Bweranyagye Girls Secondary School. She holds a Bachelor Degree in Education from Makerere University which she acquired in 1997 after joining the university in 1995. She also has a Diploma in Early Childhood Development from Sweden.

Janet Kataha Museveni was the founder of Uganda Women's Effort to Save Orphans (UWESO), an indigenous NGO which cares for war-related and HIV/AIDS-affected orphans in all the districts of Uganda. The NGO has been in operation since 1986 and works with major UN agencies and other international donor agencies.

She is also the founder and Patron of National Strategy for the Advancement of Rural Women in Uganda (NSARWU), an NGO which works with poor rural women to empower them economically through various interventions.

Janet Kataha Museveni also is the Founder and Patron of the Uganda Youth Forum (UYF) and NGO that engages the youth of Uganda for purposes of character and behavior formation particularly with regard to HIV and AIDS prevention.

She is also the Patron of the Safe Motherhood Initiative of the Ministry of Health and WHO for the reduction of maternal mortality and morbidity. In addition, she is as well the Co-chair of CURE Hospital - a special Hospital for crippled children in Uganda, with CURE International.

Janet Kataha Museveni is also an Active member of OAFLA, an Organization that unites the First Ladies of Africa in the fight against HIV and AIDS in the Region.

Born on June 24, 1948, she is married to President Yoweri Museveni, with whom they have four children.

Betty Nambooze

She is the current Member of Parliament, for Mukono Municipality, in Mukono District, in central Uganda.

Nambooze was first elected to parliament in May 2010. She in a by-election, running on the Democratic Party (DP) ticket, defeated the then incumbent MP, Peter Bakaluba Mukasa of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM).

She is a journalist by profession, lawyer, and politician. Nambooze worked as a news reporter (stringer). She also worked as a law enforcement officer and personnel officer for Mukono Town Council, prosecutor for Uganda Courts of Judicature, and served as the Spokesperson for the Democratic Party in Uganda.

Nambooze has been arrested on numerous occasions on various political charges, but she is yet to be convicted in any court of law.

Nambooze was born on July 13, 1969, in Mukono District. She attended Bishop's Senior Secondary School Mukono. She graduated in 1986 and joined the Law Development Centre, graduating with a Diploma in Law. She also holds a Diploma in Development Studies from Uganda Martyrs University.

Nambooze sits on the Parliamentary Committee on Public Service and Local Government and the Parliamentary Committee on Local Government Accounts.

In the recently concluded parliamentary elections, she retained her Mukono Municipality seat which she vied for under the National Unity Platform (NUP) headed by Musician and outgoing MP for Kyandondo East Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu aka Bobi Wine.

Nambooze is married Henry Bakireke, whom she had met in high school in the 1980s. Together, they are the parents of over 26 children, both biological and adopted.

Sarah Achieng Opendi

She is the State Minister of Mineral Development, but before that, she served as the State Minister of Health for General Duties, she was also the Minister of State for Primary Healthcare and before that the State Minister for Lands.

Opendi is an accountant by profession and a politician. She began her career as an Accounts Assistant at Uganda Consolidated Proportions Limited, a subsidiary of the government-owned Uganda Development Corporation (UDC), she was promoted to Accountant, at the same company. She then left to serve as Deputy Speaker of Tororo District Council. 

She also served as an Inspectorate Officer in the office of the Inspector General of Government (IGG) and was promoted to Senior Inspectorate Officer and to Principal Inspectorate Officer.

She also worked as the Deputy Project Coordinator of the DANIDA Anti-Corruption Project and served as the Accountant of the Acholi Bursary Program, a project of the Royal Netherlands Embassy, and also worked as the finance manager at Windle Trust Uganda, an NGO.

Besides her ministerial appointment, she is also the woman MP for Tororo District. Opendi is single. She was born in Tororo District in 1968.

She holds a diploma in accounting, from the National College of Business Studies. she successfully passed the examinations of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, to become an Associate Chartered Certified Accountant Level II. Opendi also holds a Bachelor of Business Administration and Master of Business Administration, from Makerere University.

Dorothy Kisaka

She is the Executive Director Kampala Capital City Authority-KCCA. She also served as an administrator and secretary of the National Response Fund against COVID 19 and deputy Head at the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit tasked with fast-tracking service delivery on government priorities.  

Before that Kisaka was also a Senior Presidential Advisor at the Office of the Prime Minister, tasked with coordinating political and non-political actors to implement public policy.

Kisaka also served as a commissioner at the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) Electoral Commission, supervising inter-party elections.

She is a lawyer by profession. Kisaka got her education at Gayaza High School. She holds a Bachelor of Law from Makerere University. She worked with Kiyimba-Kisaka & Co Advocates and has more than 20 years of experience.

Kisaka also holds a Master of Arts in Organizational Leadership and Management from Uganda Christian University, Mukono, and a Master in Leading Innovation and Change from York St. John University in the United Kingdom.   

She was born Dorothy Kasega to former Luuka County MP Dr. Richard Bulamu and the late Joyce Babita Bulamu of Buyunze village, Nakabugu parish in Kiyunga sub-county, Luuka district.  Kisaka is a mother of four and married to Peter Kisaka Kiyimba.

Amanda Aziidah Ngabirano

She is the Chairperson of the National Physical Planning Board-Uganda, a body responsible for physical planning in Uganda.

Dr Amanda Ngabirano is an urban and regional planner, with more than seven years of professional experience in the area of urban development, particularly in Uganda. She is also a lecturer at Makerere University.

Ngabirano holds a Bachelor of Urban Planning at Makerere University. She also holds a Master of Science in Urban and Regional Planning and Development, at Saxion University, Netherlands, and University of Greenwich, United Kingdom. 

She has a particular interest in urban mobility and its obvious informalities in East African cities, and she is passionate about mobility issues in African cities. Because of this interest, she has been engaged in several urban mobility-related projects in various capacities. Ngabirano who is also the Vice President of World Cycling Alliance does not look at a car as a symbol of status, and campaigns for the creation of the Non-Motorized Corridors and the use of bicycles in cities.

She is currently coordinating the regional urban mobility project for sustainable and inclusive transport, which is being implemented in Kenya and Uganda. Ngabirano, is married and a mother of two. 

Rosemary Nansubuga Sseninde 

She is the State Minister for Primary Education. She was appointed to the position in 2016, replacing John Chrysostom Muyingo who became State Minister for Higher Education.

Sseninde is a teacher by profession. She began her teaching career in 1987, as a teacher/instructor at a boarding elementary school. She then got transferred to Wampeewo Senior Secondary School as a teacher until 2000. She then worked as a tutor/instructor at Shimoni Teacher Training College. She then entered elective politics and become a woman Member of Parliament for Wakiso District a position she was not able to retain in the just concluded national elections but she continues to serve in a position as Minister for Primary Education

Born in Wakiso District in 1965, she got her education at St. Agnes Boarding Primary School in Naggalama, she attended St. Joseph's Senior Secondary School in Nsambya for her O-Level studies and Trinity College Nabbingo for her A-Level education.

Sseninde obtained a Teaching Certificate from Lady Irene College, in Ndejje, now part of Ndejje University. She also holds a Diploma in Education, awarded by the Institute of Teacher Education (ITEK), now part of Kyambogo University. 

Sseninde also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Human Resource Management, from Makerere University and a Master of Arts in ethics and public management.

Sseninde is married to Zephaniah Kizza Kikoba Walube Sseninde and is a mother of seven children including the renowned professorial Ugandan female football player Jean Sseninde based in the UK.

Proscovia Nabbanja

She is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC) but before that, she served as the Chief Operating Officer (Upstream) of the Uganda National Oil Company. 

Before that, she served as a Principal Geologist in the Petroleum Exploration and Production Department under the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development. She headed the Technical Division and was at the forefront of reviews of technical proposals especially field development plans and petroleum reservoir reports.

Nabbanja is a geologist and corporate executive by profession. She has at least 19 years of experience in the oil and gas industry. Nabbanja headed the estimation and reporting of the oil resources and reserves in the country, field operations monitoring, and management of petroleum data.

She has also sat on a number of inter-ministerial committees and also worked on a number of Donor funded programs such as Oil for Development and USAID. 

Nabbanja holds a Bachelor of Science in Geology and Chemistry from Makerere University, and a Master in Petroleum Geoscience from the Imperial College of Science Technology and Medicine in London, United Kingdom, a certificate in International Petroleum Management Oil and Gas Management from the Institute for Petroleum Management Inc., in Austin, Texas, United States, a Diploma in Petroleum Management and Operations, and a  Master of Business Administration from Imperial College Business School. Born in 1978, Nabbanja is married and is a mother of three children.

Betty Aol Ochan

She is the woman Member of Parliament for Gulu municipality. It was in 2006 that Betty Aol Ochan first joined parliament on the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party ticket as MP for Gulu District, and has been a member of parliament ever since.

But, before joining parliament Aol was the Local Councillor five, for Gulu District. She also worked as a Rural Development Worker and also taught at Amere S.S and Layibi College in Gulu.

In 2018, she became the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Parliament replacing Winne Kiiza who was dropped in a reshuffle by Patrick Amuriat Oboi the President of FDC the largest opposition party in the 10th Parliament. Aol also sits on the parliamentary committee on health. 

In 2019, Aol warned the Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga trisks falling prey to bad politics and practice unless she stopped being bossy on matters of law.

She was responding to a directive by the speaker that the tenure of office of the leadership of the Committee on Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE) would come to an end when they hand over the report on concluding investigations on Bank of Uganda sale of seven defunct banks. She accused the speaker of trying to personalize offices in parliament.

Aol was born on 28 November 1958. A teacher by profession, she holds a Diploma in Education from Makerere University that she attained in 1981, a Bachelor of Development Studies from Gulu University, and a Master of Development Studies from Uganda Martyrs University. She also holds a number of certificates in rural development, leadership, and social work, from local and international institutions.

Allen Catherine Kagina

She is the executive director of the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA), a position she was appointed to on April 27, l 2015.  Before that, Kagina served as the Director-General of the Uganda Revenue Authority from 2004 to 2014.

In 2006 she received the Corporate Leadership Award from Destiny Consult, an industry group, for turning around the performance of URA.

She is a psychologist and an administrator by profession. Kagina got educated at Gayaza High School, a prominent all-girl private, boarding high school. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology from Makerere University, and a Master in Public Administration from the University of Liverpool in the United Kingdom.

In 1985, Kagina kick-started her career as a teaching assistant at Makerere University. She later moved to the Office of the President, then URA, and is currently heading UNRA.

Kagina who hails from Rukungiri District was born in 1961. She is a mother of three (two boys and a girl) and is married to Paul Kagina.