What is the value of crocodile tears to a woman?

Tons of fake outrage post 2026 presidential candidate nominations about “how come no woman candidate qualified as a presidential candidate.” First, a correction. It is not that no woman qualified. It is more accurate to state that no qualified women offered ourselves to contest for the presidency of Uganda. Here are some facts for context:…

Tons of fake outrage post 2026 presidential candidate nominations about “how come no woman candidate qualified as a presidential candidate.”

First, a correction. It is not that no woman qualified. It is more accurate to state that no qualified women offered ourselves to contest for the presidency of Uganda.

Here are some facts for context:

10^th Parliament – Out of 290 directly elective parliamentary seats, only 18 (6%) were occupied by women.

11^th Parliament – 86 women were nominated to contest for directly elective constituencies, of which only 14 emerged winners; a low success rate of 16%

Read more in the CIPESA “Digital Threats to Women in Politics during the Uganda 2021 elections” report. A PDF is available.

Has the situation improved now in the contest for directly elected constituencies seats?

How many political parties have nominated women to contest for the overall constituency seats?

How many women have been nominated in total who are contesting for the 12th Parliament for the overall constituency seat and not the affirmative action seat?

If at the level of members of parliament (MPs) and of local government, political parties are not nominating women to contest for office under their party flags, how genuine is it to ‘cry for women’ at the level of the presidency?

The ‘cry for women” not nominated as 2026 presidential candidates crew, did not seem to bother much when Leader of Opposition Joel Ssenyonyi, constituted his gender skewed shadow cabinet.

And ironically, when President Museveni filled the top echelon of Cabinet with mostly women, the derogatory remarks about the women so appointed were loud, loud, loud and clear.

Pardon me, if I am not buying it, the ‘cry for women’ not nominated to contest for the presidency, especially from known misogynistic men and women; the latter who even met it out on self and on other women.

What has gone wrong with the spirit of gender affirmative action? Decades later, what can will learn from our seeming failed experiment?