Miria Matembe

Miria Rukoza Koburunga Matembe, LL.D (honoris causa) (born 28 August 1953) is a former member of the Pan-African Parliament from Uganda.[1] While serving there, she was chairperson of the Committee on Rules, Privileges and Discipline a permanent committee of the parliament.

Miria Matembe
LL.D
Member of the Pan-African Parliament
for Uganda
In office
2003–Unknown

In June 2006, she became a Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellow with the National Endowment for Democracy.[2]

Matembe is currently the chairperson Citizen coalition on electoral democracy in Uganda (CCEDU).[3][4]

Background

Matembe was born in Bwizi Bwera, Kashari, in Mbarara, to Samuel and Eseza Rukooza who were peasants. Matembe is the 4th born of the nine siblings, five boys and four girls.[5]

Education

Matembe went to Rutooma Primary School, from where she joined Bweranyangi Girls for her O-Level. She went to Namasagali College for her A-Level.[6] She received her Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree from Makerere University and her Master of Laws (LLM) degree from the University of Warwick.[7]

Career

Matembe started her career as a pupil state attorney in the Department of DPP ministry of Justice. She then moved to lecture at Makerere University Business School(MUBS) which was then Uganda College of Commerce. After 5 years she moved to the Central Bank of Uganda(Bank of Uganda).[8]

She was Mbarara District Woman Member of Parliament from 2001 to 2006.[9] She was defeated by NRM’s Peggy Waako in the 2021 Elderly MP elections where she was seeking to represent older persons in the 11th Parliament.[10]

Women's rights advocacy

Miria Matembe has been a strong proponent for and an advocate of women's rights in Uganda. For over two decades beginning in 1989, she was a member of Uganda’s parliament. She worked in the Ugandan government as minister for ethics and integrity from 1998 to 2003, after which time she became a member of the Pan-African Parliament representing Uganda.

In 1995, she was a member of the Constitutional Commission that created the Ugandan Constitution and She was one of the experts from Uganda and Kenya that reviewed and made proposals on the Proposed Constitution of Tanzania and presented their findings to the Warioba Committee in 2015, under the auspices of Kituo cha Katiba.[11] She was the former chairperson of Action for Development, Uganda's leading women's advocacy organization, an organization she co-founded.[12]

In 1990, she was the deputy general of the Pan-African Congress held in Kampala. She has been a lecturer on law and English at the Chartered Institute of Bankers, also in Kampala. A lawyer by profession, Matembe is also the author of several articles and a book, Miria Matembe: Gender, Politics, and Constitution Making in Uganda, on women in politics.

In October 2006, Matembe gave a lecture entitled "Women, War, Peace: Politics in Peacebuilding" at the University of San Diego's Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice Distinguished Lecture Series.[13]

In 2011, she delivered the keynote address at The 11th Sarah Ntiro Lecture and Award held at Grand Imperial Hotel, Kampala -Uganda to those women who are either inspiring models or have worked to facilitate girl-child education at the Forum for African Women Educationalists (Fawe) organised-event and, for the disadvantaged girl-child. The main awards came in two categories; the "Woman of Distinction" award that recognised women whose activities promoted girl child education, and the Model of Excellence award that awarded women achievers who set a good example for young girls.[14]

Matembe who was one of those honoured for her valiant efforts to promote girl child education gave thanks to god when accepting the award. She said ignorance and lack of resources were some of the issues hampering the advancement of girl child education.

Books published
  • The Struggle for Freedom and Democracy Betrayed.[15]
  • Woman in the eyes of God : reclaiming a lost identity.[16]
  • Miria Matembe: Gender Politics and Constitution Making in Uganda[17]

Awards

Family

She is married to Nekemia Matembe and they have 4 sons, named Godwin, Gilbert, Gideon, and Grace.[18]

References
  1. Pan-African Parliament members as of 15 March 2004 Archived 18 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  2. NED International Forum for Democratic Studies. "Ten years of Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellows Program" (PDF): 25. Retrieved 31 May 2021. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  3. "CCEDU statement on political distress in political parties". ccedu.org.ug. Retrieved 2020-04-17.
  4. "CCEDU coordinator Krispin Kaheru welcomes Miria Matembe then resigns". The independent. 2019-10-08. Retrieved 2020-04-17.
  5. Agather Atuhaire (12 December 2020). "Matembe Retires In Two Minds". Daily Monitor. Kampala, Uganda. Retrieved 4 April 2022.
  6. "WHO IS WHO Miria Matembe". whoinafrica.com. Retrieved 2021-04-14.
  7. "Miria Matembe". Salzburg Global Seminar. 12 November 2020. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  8. WHO IS WHO. "Miria Matembe". WHO IS WHO. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
  9. Atuhaire, Agather (12 December 2020). "Matembe retires in two minds". Nation Media Group. Daily Monitor. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
  10. Daily Express Uganda (22 January 2021). "Miria Matembe loses to NRM's Waako in Elderly MP elections". Daily Express Uganda. Daily Express Uganda. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
  11. Tanzania Elections Watch. "Hon. Dr. Miria R.K Matembe". Tanzania Elections Watch. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
  12. Mugabo, Brian (6 July 2012). "Miria Matembe: Speaking out loudly for justice and fairness". Nation Media Group. Daily Monitor. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
  13. Matembe, Miria; Perez, Alma Viviana; Santiago, Irene (2006). Women, War and Peace: The politics of peacebuilding. Online: JOAN B. KROC INSTITUTE FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
  14. Daily Monitor (7 April 2011). "Awarded for helping the girl-child". Nation Media Group. Daily Monitor. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
  15. The Struggle for Freedom & Democracy Betrayed: Memoirs of Miria Matembe as an Insider in Museveni's Government. Retrieved 2021-04-14 – via www.amazon.com.
  16. Matembe, Miria (2009). Woman in the eyes of God: reclaiming a lost identity. Kampala, Uganda: New Life Publishers. ISBN 978-9970-17-600-7. OCLC 501315188.
  17. Alim, Leena Omar. (2002). "Miria Matembe: Gender Politics and Constitution Making in Uganda. (Book Reviews)". Ahfad Journal. 19 (2): 86. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
  18. "Matembe on her love life: I'm not a factory to be managed". Daily Monitor. 6 January 2021. Retrieved 2021-04-14.
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