NESTOR BASEMERA, PhD: The Marginalized Majority: Why Uganda’s Women Councils Need Real Power, Not Just Seats

What the report says

Watchdog Uganda published an opinion article by Dr. Nestor Basemera arguing that Uganda’s women councils and other affirmative-action arrangements have not given women enough practical influence over public decision-making. The article, published on July 24, 2026, says women remain underrepresented in bodies that determine how public resources are used, despite formal openings for participation in local government elections.

Basemera’s central point is that political inclusion through reserved seats or local administrative participation can become symbolic if it does not connect women to the places where budgets, development priorities and fiscal policy are decided. He writes that women are major users of local services such as water, schools, health facilities, roads and other household-facing services, yet they often remain outside the most powerful planning and executive spaces.

The article also refers to the Uganda Women’s District Councils Capacity Building Programme, which Basemera describes as an institutional-development effort that still did not resolve unequal gender relations in higher-level councils. He argues that grassroots women’s councils often struggle with limited funding and insufficient technical capacity in areas such as public finance, accounting and national development planning.

As a proposed way forward, Basemera calls for women to move beyond general deliberative roles into executive committee and chairperson positions where administrative agendas and budgets are shaped. He also urges that women’s councils be linked to mainstream economic planning, infrastructure, land rights and national resource allocation, rather than being confined to areas traditionally framed as social welfare.