Source: The Observer
The Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga wants the President Museveni to appoint a woman to a level of prime minister.
Dr Ruhakana Rugunda is the current Prime minister. He is deputized by Henry Kajura, the 1st deputy PM; General Moses Ali as 2nd deputy PM and Kirunda Kivejinja as 3rd deputy PM.
According to Kadaga, having a woman at such a level will help to champion gender sensitive matters within the executive without difficulty.
“We need some women at the level of prime minister in our cabinet. We have a prime minister who’s a man, first deputy who’s a man, second deputy who’s a man, 3rd deputy who’s a man and for me it is not just fashion. In cabinet the person who decides what goes on the agenda is the prime minister. If he doesn’t agree with your issue, it will not go on the cabinet agenda. So, we need someone who can chair that cabinet and say we want a law to deal with medicine or maternal health. Am not afraid to day this, we want a voice there at that level", she said.
Kadaga, who was speaking at the national women's conference in Kampala yesterday, cited Namibia as one of the African countries that have appointed a female prime minister.
The conference, organised by Uganda Women Parliamentary Association (UWOPA) and Uganda Women's Network (UWONET) to interact with newly elected women MPs, was at some point turned into an open air campaign platform for Kadaga, as different speakers asked legislators to vote for her as the Speaker of the 10th Parliament.
Betty Amongi, the chairperson UWOPA, said though affirmative action has increased the number of women in leadership positions, Uganda still lags behind. Amongi says the retention of Kadaga as Speaker will be a boost efforts to push women for the top positions in the country.
“The president is a man, vice president is a man, chief justice is a man, deputy is a man and again we want a speaker to be a man? We must actually also be saying since the two arms of government are headed by men, this arm of government [parliament] should be headed by women. So we must start by protecting what we have and demand for more, you can not demand for what you don’t have", Amongi said.
Kadaga will face off with her Deputy Speaker Jacob Oulanyah. During the meeting, Tezra Jamwa noted that the introduction of multiparty politics has divided the interests of the women movement, due to differences in ideology of their respective political parties. Jamwa says women should look beyond political differences to advocate for gender issues collectively. The two-day conference ends today.