VP Alupo steps in for women’s Celebrations for Museveni Who is away in Arusha

This International Women’s Day fell on a Sunday, March 8, and President Museveni was not in Kampala to mark it. He had already travelled to Arusha, Tanzania earlier in the week for the EAC summit, where Uganda took over the regional chairmanship. So the national celebrations at Kololo Ceremonial Grounds were presided over by Vice President Jessica Alupo.

This year’s theme was “Scaling up investment to accelerate access to justice for women and girls across Uganda.” It is a theme that touches something real. Any Ugandan woman who has tried to navigate the courts, access land rights or get justice after domestic violence knows that access to justice is not something many women experience as straightforward.

The day had its highlights. An all-women military parade commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Evelyn Asiimwe drew attention and applause from the crowd. Seeing women in uniform marching with discipline has become one of the more visible signs of changing times, even if the battles outside the parade ground remain much harder to win.

VP Alupo also toured exhibition stalls put up by women entrepreneurs who came out to show what they are building. These are the kinds of women who stay up late sewing, cooking, crafting or calculating — carrying households and businesses on their backs at the same time.

Back in Arusha on the same day, Museveni was formally taking over the EAC chairmanship. His absence from the Women’s Day event is not unusual in government circles, but for many Ugandan women, the symbolism of a man choosing a regional summit over a national women’s celebration does not go unnoticed.

Alupo held the space with composure. Whether you agree with her politics or not, watching a woman represent the country at a women’s rights event carries its own kind of statement