The unstoppable Winnie Byanyima

IF she had followed her career path, perhaps Winnie Byanyima could have been somewhere, prbably even at NASA headquarters guiding the launch of the next spaceship.

She was the first female aeronautics engineer in Uganda as well as the first African woman to win a Zonta International’s Amelia Earhart Fellowship. But coming from a family with very strong political background, Byanyima later abandoned her areonautics career to join the liberation struggle.

Though soft-spoken, Byanyima is a woman of strong character. From being elected a member of the Constituent Assembly in 1994, Byanyima went on to win the Mbarara municipality parliamentary seat twice, including against Ngoma Ngime, the then official NRM candidate in 2001. Although she quit local politics in 2004 to join the AU and now the UN, those familiar with her know that her time in Ugandan politics is not yet over.

Meeting Museveni

Like many of the people who joined the National Resistance Army, Byanyima had met President Yoweri Museveni at a younger age. The two had grown up together at Winnie’s parent’s home.

On completion of her aeronautics engineering course, she joined Museveni in London at the time he was building the political movement that would lead to the National Resistant Movement liberation struggle. Together with other exiles, they mobilised funds that would later finance the struggle.

At that time women were expected to be outside mobilisers and to support the cause secretly, but Byanyima wanted to do more. She was 22 then and had been exposed to some feminist ideas as a university student, reading books like Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex, a book which was starting point for second wave feminism so she could not consent to take the place society expected her to. Not even, Museveni could convince her.

“When it was time for him to return to the bush, he claimed that the conditions in the bush were still unsafe for women, so he asked me either to relocate to Zimbabwe, or to return to Uganda and work with others who were supporting the guerrilla war clandestinely. We had a major debate over this.

I did not understand how a woman could hope to be an equal participant in this Uganda that he was trying to build, if she could be told “you cannot participate in the struggle at this stage because it’s too rough,” she told Feminist Africa, a publication of the African Gender Institute “I couldn’t accept his position,” she adds in the interview.

However, Byanyima’s efforts did not go unnoticed. Although she is a strong critic of the Government and wife of opposition party leader Kizza Besigye, she was awarded the Uganda Heroes Nalubaale Medal for her contribution to the NRA bush war. At the time NRA captured power, Byanyima was an aide to President Museveni and often accompanied him clad in green army fatigues.

After the liberation war she went on to pursue a masters degree in mechanical engineering in energy conservation at Cranfield University. Between 1989 and 1993, she was Uganda’s representative to UNESCO.

Controversial politician

If she was in Parliament today, Byanyima would have certainly been labelled “rebel MP,” a term used to refer to dissident legislators, who at times differ from party positions. First, her decision to run for MP representing Mbarara Municipality in 1994 angered many because they felt that she was trying to take away a man’s seat.

The hostile response was driven by her decision not to take advantage of the affirmative action which guaranteed a seat for a woman from each district though women could contest for mainstream seats as well. “I wanted to increase the number of seats women held in the assembly by winning a mainstream seat.

Wiinie Byanyima and Kizza Besigye at their wedding in July, 1999

I knew that I had the skills, track record, political allies and the capacity to raise enough campaign finances to compete and win against any male candidate,” she said in an interview with International Knowledge Network of Women in Politics.

In Parliament, Byanyima led a very tough and long campaign against corruption and abuse of office. She successfully spearheaded the censure of Mnister Sam Kutesa and Maj. Gen. Jim Muhwezi on allegations of corruption. because of her stance, she earned both enemies and admiration.

“I may not agree with her political stand but Winnie is an intelligent lady. She was an icon in Parliament, someone everyone wanted to emulate. She is the kind of person you want to have by your side,” says Isaac Musumba, the former state minister for foreign affairs .

In the Constituent Assembly Byanyima was elected Chair of the Assembly’s Women’s Caucus. After a gruelling campaign in which she beat Ngoma Ngime in 2001, Byanyima shocked many when in 2004, she quit politics to take over as Director of Women, Gender and Development at the African Union Commission in Addis Ababa.

Falling out with the NRM

In 1999, Byanyima was sacked as the Movement Secretariat director of information, because of her strong views, which were perceived as antiestablishment. “The NRM chairman, President Yoweri Museveni regretted that despite his advice to her (Byanyima) that as the Movement director of information she should refrain from taking positions counter to the official stand and policy of the NRM, she failed to comply,” the then Presidential press secretary, Hope Kivengere, said in a statement.

In 2001 Byanyima vigorously campaigned for Besigye in a bid to unseat President Museveni, but Besigye lost the 2001 presidential polls.

The woman activist

Byanyima is credited for leading by example and championing women emancipation. She was the brain behind the establishment of women advocacy non-governmental organisation - the Forum for Women in Development as well as Forum for Women in Democracy.

“After NRM took power, she encouraged women to take on our roles and serve the country,” recalls Namirembe Bitamazire the former minister for education and sports. She adds that Byanyima always worked hard to mobilise resources to promote women empowerment