By Dorothy Muhawe
A few years ago, a colleague at work chastised me for not reading Barbara Taylor Bradford’s famous book - A Woman of Substance. It tells the story of Emma Harte, a former parlor maid for a wealthy Yorkshire family who cleverly works against the misfortunes that life has dealt her and builds a successful international business.

Every day since she was first made our Junior Minister of Communication, Owek. Joyce Nabbosa Ssebugwawo has dazzled me with her Emma Harte-like qualities of passion, determination, and fashion.  

Her passion for serving the people of Uganda has seen her create a niche space within the sometimes domineering Information Communication Technology and National Guidance ecosystem. Phrases like Business Process Outsourcing and App development now roll off her tongue with ease. 

Her determination in support of the Digitisation agenda of our country has seen her address students and faculty at Uganda Institute of ICT and ISBAT University. No wonder then that she was just recently named Patron of Decent Africa - an initiative of HiPipo a leading digital age organization specializing in digital innovation, financial inclusion, inclusive finance, etc. 

Her pride in our African traditional value systems has not been watered down by the demands of ministerial power or indeed tech advances. On the contrary, the busuuti (gomesi) has found a place of pride in her and is an ever-fixed immaculate presence.

She is a successful political leader, an adoring wife to Mzee Danieri Ssebugwawo, and a mother and grandmother to many. 
As such, like Emma Harte, Owek. Joyce,  whom President Museveni refers to as “my sister Joyce” is in my view a cornerstone of respectable empowerment of women in Uganda. 

Until May 2021, she was, for 10 years, Mayor of  Lubaga Division in Kampala. It is in Lubaga that the Kingdom of Buganda has its Parliament known as Lukiiko. This Lukiiko is situated a mile (Royal mile) away from the Kabaka’s palace atop the Lubiiri. In hindsight, it is now easy to see that her time as Mayor was one of success - it was on her watch that the Royal Mile was turned into an open museum of some of Buganda’s proud history.

It is a thriving division - home to sculptors, mechanics, educationists, and other entrepreneurs. Mutesa 1 Royal University, Team University, Nkozi University, Nkumba University, and Ndejje University have thriving campuses within the division.  

No surprise here because before she moved to London’s Glenside Hospital as a student of Psychiatric nursing, she attended Lubiiri Junior School and Lubiiri High School both of which remain within the enclosure of the Kabaka’s Lubiiri compound. 

I have recently come to know of her business acumen. At a time when many women shunned enterprise, not least because of the insecurity of the day, Owek. Joyce teamed up with her brother and in 1977 began a Motor Vehicle Spare parts business. She also began a Carpentry workshop that she named after her alma mater Glenside. 

In 1984, she joined the NRA bush war effort by sourcing for and supplying the galant combatants with medicines and some clothing. This marked her as a target of President Obote’s brutal security operatives. 

This threat did not deter her because, like many in Uganda, she had come to see the National Resistance Movement as “a clear-headed movement with clear objectives and good membership.” 

One sign of this clear-headedness and clear objectives was the introduction, in 1987, of the Resistance Council(RC) system [now evolved into the Local Council system]. It was this RC system and the opportunity it created for women in politics that led Owek. Joyce to contest for, and win, the coveted position of Secretary for Women. She would later use her position to lobby for and begin The National Women's Council in Uganda.
In her struggle during the bush war, Hon Joyce fought for the restoration of her Buganda kingdom. She mobilized clan leaders and introduced then Prince Ronald Muwenda Mutebi to them.

When he was crowned as Buganda’s 36th Kabaka, Ronald Muwenda looked to her passionate campaign to restore the Kabakaship and appointed her Minister for Women Affairs at Bulange. 

I, therefore, was not surprised when it was announced that Owek. Joyce Nabbosa Ssebugwawo is now a recipient of the Golden Jubilee Medal, awarded to her on Heroes Day. 

I am privileged to work under her and in her, I am reminded that “we are each the authors of our own lives. We live in what we have created. There is no way to shift blame and no one else to accept the accolades.”

The writer works with the Department of Communication and National Guidance of the  Ministry Of ICT&NG - Uganda.