POLITICS | EAC | KADAGA

KAMPALA - East Africa Community (EAC) affairs minister, Rebecca Kadaga, has called on governments to increase the number of women representatives at the EAC.

She said this will help raise the status of women and increase their participation in regional affairs and improve gender parity.

The community has previously had a female speaker (Ugandan Margaret Zziwa in 2012) and efforts have been made by governments in the region to have women as Members of Parliament in the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA).

However, Kadaga says women numbers are still comparatively very low.

According to her, the problem has been exacerbated by negative societal practices that discriminate against women and the continued appetite by men to “nominate fellow men for positions at the secretariat and in EALA”. 

“The government should send more women envoys so that we don’t celebrate only men,” she said, adding that this will also help reduce the imbalance there.

Kadaga, who is also the First Deputy Prime minister, made the remarks on Wednesday while presiding over the Eriya Kategaya Memorial Lecture at Mestil Hotel in Kampala.

The lecture, which is the third since Kategaya’s death a decade ago, is organised to celebrate his legacy and reflect on the values he stood for when he and fellow National Resistance Army fighters took up arms against the leadership of President Idi Amin and Milton Obote.

Kategaya, a lawyer and childhood friend of President Yoweri Museveni, fought in the bush under number ROO2 while Museveni fought under number R001.

Kategaya died on March 3, 2013, in Nairobi, Kenya, where he had been admitted after reportedly suffering from a blood clot. He was 67.

At the time of his death, Kategaya was First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for East African Community Affairs. He had been serving in this capacity for six years.