It appears, Uganda has a problem - women. They permeate all corners of this land. Figures from the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) indicate that women and girls constitute 51 per cent of Uganda's population.
Especially problematic are the women in leadership, according to recent incendiary remarks from two male parliamentarians: Francis Zaake and Daudi Kabanda.
On October 13, Parliament came to a sudden halt when female Members of Parliament (MPs) attempted to (wo)manhandle MP Zaake, the baby face of tenacious goading, over derogatory remarks he made about Rakai Woman MP Juliet Kinyamatama.
At a public rally in Rakai district, Zaake criticized Kyinamatama's constituents for electing a poor-quality representative. Pulse Uganda website reported that Zaake said, "...We also have this Nalumansi (Kinyamatama), as if she went to Parliament for prostitution. She is wicked. They have rendered Parliament useless. We expect you to send better MPs than this one."
Woe to Zaake! Surrounded by wicked prostitutes in parliament!
Kinyamatama, in calling Parliament's attention to Zaake's derogatory remarks, declared, "An attack on a woman is an attack on all women." Zaake finds himself once again before the Parliamentary Committee on Rules, Discipline and Privileges for his uninhibited tongue. Yet, if Zaake's obtuse remarks attack all Uganda women, how will the Committee on Rules, Discipline and Privileges defend the women of Uganda?
Accompanying Zaake in the manly denigration of women is ruling party MP Daudi Kabanda whose masculinity is pained by the number of women in cabinet. Earlier this month, Kabanda weighed in on the controversy about Uganda's oversized delegation(s) to the United Nations General Assembly.
The controversy pitted Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja against Minister Justine Lumumba. Pulse Uganda reported that Kabanda remarked, "President Museveni has over-womanized (sic) his government; he needs to scale it back. Men used to engage in strategic conflicts with other men, while women are fighting make-up wars. They are fighting about who has worn better attire, who has better shoes, or who looks better than the other. This is the path the President has set for our country, and there's nothing we can do about it."
Dear reader, let us be guided. The Uganda Women Parliamentary Association (UWOPA) notes that women constitute 34 per cent of the 11th Parliament; 45 per cent of senior cabinet ministers and 48 per cent of ministers of State. Perhaps we ought to be grateful that such national leaders take half the country's population for lipstick idiots and wicked prostitutes.
The Mubende district website indicates that the district is fairly womanized if we go by Kabanda's macho logic. As of 2014 census figures, Mubende district had 346,525 males and 342,294 females. Kabanda, a first-time MP representing Kasambya county in Mubende district, probably has a sizeable fraction of female supporters who, instead of pondering lipstick and dresses, voted him in. Voters are wildly unpredictable like that.
If Zaake's attack on Kyinamatama is an attack on all women, then Kabanda's belittling of female leaders is an attack on all women including Zaake's wicked parliamentary prostitutes. Strangely, Kabanda's comments have not attracted the fury of female parliamentarians and consequently, the enthusiastic attention of the Parliamentary Committee on Rules, Discipline and Privileges.
If an attack on one woman MP is an attack on all Ugandan women, what are the next steps for the female MPs?
Kabanda and Zaake present the female parliamentarians with a magnificent opportunity. The lipstick women and wicked prostitutes in Parliament should grovel gratefully on their womanly knees before the big-brained Zaake and Kabanda.
The two male MPs have reminded the female MPs that it is not yet Uhuru for half of Uganda's population. Yes, you (woman MPs) have fought and continue to fight but do not let the rippling muscles and rock- hard abs beneath the swinging potbellies of your male colleagues derail the fight for all women.
Zaake and Kabanda are a timely reminder to the female MPs that being in Parliament is a daily privilege to advance the empowerment of all women in Uganda. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) 2023 Gender Social Norms Index titled, 'Breaking Down Gender Biases,' has some stark reminders: gender bias is deeply entrenched and is a worldwide pandemic.
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Nearly nine in ten persons believe that men make better political leaders than women do. Two in five people believe that men make better business executives than women do. Furthermore, women leaders are often judged more harshly than their male counterparts are. At the very top, the fraction of female heads of state or government has stagnated around 10 per cent since 1995.
Dear female MPs, do better than reducing your muscles to the beefy work of roughing up Zaake. Do better than shrill cries for one woman MP who has the privilege of complaining to Parliament. Use your numbers and your voice to legislate that the women in Uganda can have a taste of that privilege.
Besides, figures show that women live longer. Therafa, female MPs are likely to outlive the manly condescension of the likes of Kabanda and Zaake. Dear female MPs, play the long game.
The writer is a tayaad muzzukulu
