Humanist

At the top echelon – the Leader of the Opposition, the Chief Opposition Whip, the Deputy Chief Opposition Whip, and the Commissioner of Parliament are all men.

A whopping 75 percent of the heads of parliamentary committees (chairpersons and deputy chairpersons) are men and only 25 percent are women. Moreover, the women hold positions of deputy chairpersons.

The shadow cabinet ministers and the shadow Attorney General are 60 percent men and only 40 percent are women.

Representatives to other parliamentary bodies are evenly gender distributed – 50 percent are men and 50 percent are women.

Overall, the composition of Hon. Ssenyonyi’s shadow cabinet is 64.6 percent male and only 35.4 percent female.

Why is that? Why, for example, appoint Hon. Zaake Francis Butebi, to hold two significant positions in the Shadow Cabinet – Deputy Chief Whip and Minister of the Presidency?

Why not, in fact, appoint a woman to be the Deputy Chief Whip?

Considering, especially so, the recent saga in which women members of parliament were irate accusing Hon. Zaake of vulgar attacks against women legislators.

Is Hon. Ssenyonyi’s gender skewed shadow cabinet a reflection of how his party, the National Unity Platform (NUP), would govern if they were in power?

Or is it simply that there aren’t sufficient numbers of women in the opposition in parliament?

If not and there are women in the opposition in parliament, why weren’t they appointed onto Hon. Ssenyonyi’s shadow cabinet in equal proportions as men?

For the full list of Hon. Ssenyonyi’s Shadow Cabinet click here and read.

It is important to note that as of 2023, Uganda’s population is estimated to be 51.1 million people and is numerically gender balanced – 50 percent male and 50 percent female.

Be that as it may, the new, the second, shadow cabinet of the eleventh parliament, appointed by newly appointed Leader of the Opposition, Hon. Joel Ssenyonyi, is significantly gender skewed in favour of the male gender.