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Four elected as MPs for elderly
Ms Peninah Busingye (left) receives a declaration certificate from the Central North region returning officer, Mr Idd Kaahwa, at Luweero Diocese Guest House on on January 18, 2021. PHOTO/DAN WANDERA
What you need to know:
- The Electoral Commission has also declared five other persons as elected representatives of Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) to the new Parliament.
The Electoral Commission (EC) has declared four persons who will be the first Members of Parliament to represent the elderly persons.
The four, who are all members of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM), were voted by an electoral college consisting of elderly persons in the different regions.
Last year, Parliament created five parliamentary seats for elderly persons, one of which is ring-fenced for women.
The election of elderly MPs adds to the already existing representatives of special interest groups, which include youth, women, workers, people with disability and the army.
Busingye Peninah Kabingani (Central)
Ms Kabingani was elected MP for the elderly for central region
Ms Kabingani, 78, commonly known as Maama Kisanja, is a retired civil servant. She worked with the East African Community Railways, which upon its disintegration during the 1970s, morphed into Uganda Railways. Ms Kabingani is a livestock farmer and resident of Kira Municipality in Wakiso District.
She has been in active political mobilisation for the last 58 years at both village and district level. She is the treasurer of Wakiso District Elderly League.
Dominic Mafwabi Gidudu (Eastern)
Mr Gidudu, 71, is a representative for the eastern region in the next Parliament. Mr Gidudu has held key positions including being a member of NRM Central Executive Committee (CEC) and the national chairperson of NRM Elders League.
Through his lobbying efforts, the President under the budget framework of social-economic development under National Agricultural Advisory Services (Naads) and Operation Wealth Creation (OWC) for the elderly asked him to make special arrangements for each older person in eastern region to receive 30 oranges, 30 mangoes, 30 cashew nuts and 30 papaw seedlings.
Catherine Akumu Mavengina (Northern)
Ms Mavengina is one of President Museveni’s loyalists from West Nile and one time served as the State minister for Public Service.
She was one of the leading figures in mobilising votes for the President in Nebbi District.
She is a lawyer and a veteran politician from Nebbi District. She served as a magistrate before she joined elective politics the 1990s.
Ms Mavenjina represented Nebbi District as a Woman MP in the 8th Parliament. In the mock rehearsals ahead of Queen Elizabeth’s visit to Uganda in 2007, Ms Mavenjina acted as a queen. The Queen returned to Uganda in 2007 to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.
Joram Ruranga Tibasiimwa (Western)
Mr Ruranga is a retired head teacher, who taught in a number of schools such as Ntare School and Mbarara High School. He is the current chairperson of the National Council for Elderly Persons and former speaker of Greater Bushenyi District local government and a lay canon in the Anglican Church of Uganda.
PWD MPs declared
Meanwhile, the Electoral Commission has also declared five other persons as elected representatives of Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) to the new Parliament.
They are Kanusu Laura, Ms Asamo Hellen Grace, Mr Ndeezi Alex and Ms Achan Joyce Okeny ( all NRM) and Bumaali Mpindi, an Independent.
