Former Mbarara Woman Member of Parliament and Minister for Ethics and Integrity Miria Matembe was trounced in the elections for Member of Parliament to represent the elderly.
Matembe who was contesting on the independent ticket was beaten by NRM’s Peggy Joy Waako by over 600 votes.
Matembe polled only 56 votes, and Waako garnered 696 votes, leaving a yawning distance between the only two contestants in the race.
Matembe was in parliament representing Mbarara and also served as a minister in Museveni’s government before falling out bitterly in 2003.
Falling the fallout, she retired from active politics in 2006 and concentrated on general activism.
In 2020, Matembe declared that God had recalled her to serve her people, hence a decision to return to elective politics.
“I have been seeing the elderly suffering on TV. I see them crying, being chased out of the land. Children are beating them, others are being chased by their fathers. So, I have been feeling so bad and so I said surely, because me when I have a platform, I get up and fight for these people,” she said.
“I was inside my house and I didn’t know they were intending to bring members for elderly to Parliament. Then I saw them in Parliament debating for a national and female MP for the elderly. So, I said that this is God calling me to go and defend the cause of the elderly. The elders have been crying out and I want to say that God has heard them and is calling me to go and be their voice of hope,” she added
