Nabbanja: "I have been RDC, MP, minister so what is difficult about being prime minister?"

The newly appointed Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja has assured the people that she has the qualifications to serve in the role.

Nabbanja was appointed as designate prime minister by President Museveni on 8th June 2021. She will become the 11th person and first female to occupy the office since Uganda became independent in 1962.

Speaking to journalists at her home in Kampala, Nabbanja expressed her gratitude towards the appointment and thanked the president for giving her another opportunity to exhibit her skills and also serve the people of Uganda.

She described the news of her appointment as a surprise.

"In the first place, I was so surprised and I thought this was our usual jargons on the social media. I didn’t expect this in the first place because I was not informed in anyway. The truth is that it was a big surprise," she said.

She told the media that she is ready to take up the position.

"I can only give Ugandans hope that throughout those journeys, I was getting experienced. I am such an experienced person. I am the only member of parliament in that region in 2016 that came back an opposed .There are a number of things we have done together with government ,the experienced I have the qualifications I have," she said.

She explained that being a minister, commissioner of Parliament and the RDC is enough experience for someone to be a good leader.

"I was appointed a commissioner of Parliament and I was appointed to chair a committee of audit . I organised the audit charter of Parliament. Parliament can now proudly say it has an audit charter which I organized single handedly by the way, "she said.

Nabbanja replaces Dr Ruhakana Rugunda who has been appointed a Special Envoy of the President for Special Duties, a unique and new position that has not existed before.

Fact file

Nabbanja was born and raised in Kamusenene village, Nkooko Sub County in present-day Kakumiro District, Bunyoro , Western Uganda on 17 December 1969.

She attended Nkooko Primary School before joining St. Edward’s Secondary School Bukuumi, for both her O-Level and A-Level studies.

For 10 years (2001–2010) she served as a Resident District Commissioner in the districts of Pallisa, Busia and Budaka, before joining elective politics in 2011, when she successfully contested for Kibaale District Woman representative in the 9th Parliament (2011–2016).

When Kakumiro district was created in 2016, she successfully contested for the Woman Representative seat for the new district.

She is currently the Woman MP for Kakumiro district, having won re-election for the same seat in the January 2021 elections.

During her time in Parliament, she served as treasurer of the NRM Caucus ( 2011-2016), and parliamentary commissioner (2016-2019).