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Women influencing Kayunga politics
What you need to know:
- Many women prefer running for district women member position, leaving other open seats to men, contributing to their limited presence in Parliament.
Despite the government’s efforts towards women’s emancipation, few women in the country are actively involved in politics.
This situation is mirrored in Kayunga District, with a population of about 450,000, where only a few women hold political influence.
One such woman is Ms Immaculate Namata, the Kayunga District workers female councillor, now serving her second term.
Ms Namata entered politics in 2016 when she contested for the Ntenjeru North MP seat as an Independent candidate but lost to Mr Amos Lugoloobi, the state minister for Finance and Planning.
Ms Namata says she was motivated to run to ensure women’s voices were heard, particularly in a race where no other woman had come forward.
“In 2016, I realised that there was no single woman who had come out to contest against Mr Lugoloobi who was about to be declared unopposed. I joined the race to represent the interests of women so that our voice can be heard,” Ms Namata says.
An accountant by profession, Ms Namata transitioned into politics due to dissatisfaction with current leaders.
Ms Namata says she abandoned her accounting job to show that women could outperform men in leadership.
“As a woman in leadership, I want to show fellow women that we can do it better than the men. As mothers, we feel ashamed when men do what is not expected of them,” she notes.
Ms Namata, who plans to run for the Kayunga District chairman seat in the 2026 general elections, aims to promote maternal and reproductive health and combat corruption which she calls a “cancer” in the district.
Ms Harriet Nakwedde is another influential politician in Kayunga. A supporter of the Opposition National Unity Platform (NUP), she began her political career in 2006, running for the Kayunga District Woman MP seat on the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) ticket, but lost.
She ran again in 2011 and 2021 but was unsuccessful. Her persistence, driven by frustration with unfulfilled political promises, has made her a popular figure among the youth and a symbol of the desire for change.
“My political struggles revolve around issues of respect for the rule of law, democracy, respect of people’s rights without discrimination,” Ms Nakwedde, who holds a Bachelor of Arts in Education, says.
She has declared her intention to run for the district woman MP seat again. Her continuous engagement with local communities has solidified her grassroots support.
Ms Jacquelyn Birungi Kobusingye, the current Resident District Commissioner for Buvuma, entered politics in 2021.
Although she lost the NRM primaries for the Kayunga District Woman MP seat and later the general election, she remains a significant political figure.
She is driven by a desire to ensure effective representation and promote gender equality.
“I joined elective politics to ensure that people of Kayunga get effective representation. For so long, Kayunga has been without a female politician who can attend to their social issues as a mother,” Ms Kobusingye says.
Her influence is bolstered by her father, Mr Moses Kalangwa, the Kayunga District NRM chairman.
Ms Prossy Naava, the Bukolooto Ward councillor for Kayunga Town Council, is known for advocating gender equality and fairness in service delivery.
Ms Naava’s candid approach to addressing social issues has made her a prominent figure.
Her dedication to social justice drives her political career, though she does not intend to seek higher office.
“I will die fighting for social justice, I want to be a voice of the voiceless,” she says.
Ms Ruth Kabazzi, the Kayunga District vice chairman, joined politics in 2006.
Despite being introverted, her appointment by the district chairperson Andrew Muwonge as his deputy was surprising to many.
Ms Kabazzi is committed to ensuring women are aware of government programmes aimed at improving their lives.
“My struggle is mainly to ensure that women get to know about all government programmes geared at improving their standards of living,” Ms Kabazzi says.
She also advocates for legislation to regulate campaign funding to make politics more accessible to women.
The medical worker cum politician explains that commercialisation of politics has deterred many women from entering the political arena.
Ms Ida Nantaba, the Kayunga District Woman MP, has been an influential politician since joining elective politics in 2011.
Currently serving her third term, she focuses on addressing social challenges such as land grabbing and corruption.
Despite her influence waning, she remains committed to her constituents, particularly in the fight against land grabbing.
“I always seek to see my people living in a society free of land grabbing because without land one cannot do anything, even fighting poverty in his or her household is impossible,” Ms Nantaba says.
She says her fight against powerful land grabbers is responsible for all her political woes, including being dropped from the position of state minister of ICT.
