State Minister for Gender, Peace Mutuuzo has urged the incoming 12th Parliament to place mental health, rehabilitation services and harmful cultural norms at the centre of its legislative agenda.
Mutuuzo warned that Uganda cannot advance gender equality without addressing the growing social pressures affecting families, professionals and young people.
Speaking at the National Dialogue on Legislating for Equality held on Tuesday at Four Points Sheraton Hotel in Kampala, Mutuuzo said the country is facing a silent crisis driven by rising alcohol abuse, stress and depression, yet Parliament has not enacted laws to support early counselling or community mediation.
She said the new Parliament must act with urgency.
“Maybe the 11th or 12th Parliament should also think about rehabilitation centres,” the minister said, noting the growing consumption of high-alcohol spirits.
“Many of the lawyers and doctors, medical practitioners, lawyers are struggling with mental health while academicians are struggling with depression," she said.
Mutuuzo said Uganda needs a legal framework for guidance and counselling in workplaces, schools and communities.
“We have to generate guidance and counselling… But we have not legislated about it,” she said. “Can we do mediation? Is there somebody who can sit somewhere to advise us so that we don’t fall into deeper challenges?”
The minister also called for a fresh approach to confronting cultural norms that undermine women’s rights and widen gender inequalities.
She said traditional leaders should take the lead in reviewing practices that disadvantage women and limit their participation in society.
“I encouraged them to go through every cultural practice and look at how they can identify areas that put women down,” she said.
Mutuuzo added that boys and young men are increasingly left without guidance, and called for the development of a national framework on positive masculinity.
“We have to engage positive masculinity… a detailed way of life of a positive masculine man,” she said. “How does he behave? How does he respond to issues and still remain a man in the African context?”
She also argued that feminism needs to be contextualised to the Ugandan setting, noting, “We have to Africanise feminism so that it fits within the community,” she said.
The dialogue, supported by the Governments of Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands and Sweden under the PACER project, brought together MPs, civil society, youth leaders, development partners and the National Planning Authority to reflect on the 11th Parliament’s performance and outline priorities for the 12th.
FIDA-Uganda CEO Liliane Byarugaba Adriko said the 11th Parliament had registered notable progress through laws such as the Succession (Amendment) Act and Employment (Amendment) Act, but several critical reforms remain stuck.
“The Marriage Bill, the Sexual Offences Bill, the National Legal Aid Bill, the Witness Protection Bill and the Transitional Justice Bill remain unresolved. These gaps have real consequences in the lives of women and girls,” she said.
Sweden’s Ambassador to Uganda, Maria Håkansson, said Uganda must dismantle legal and social barriers that limit women’s economic independence and protect harmful norms.
“Legal obstacles that prevent women from achieving economic independence must be dismantled,” she said, adding that legislation must be matched with action to challenge practices such as child marriage and teenage pregnancy.
As the country prepares for the transition to the 12th Parliament, the dialogue highlighted growing consensus that Uganda’s next legislative cycle must be more decisive.