Eunice Namatende

Hon.
Namatende Eunice
Woman Member of Parliament for Bugiri District
Incumbent
Assumed office
2026
Personal details
Born (1985-08-22) August 22, 1985
Nankoma Sub-county, Bugiri District, Uganda
PartyNational Resistance Movement (NRM)
SpouseDavid Mukwaya
Children3
Parent(s)Christopher Bameka and Sarah Naigaga
Education
OccupationPolitician, pastor, educator
ProfessionTeacher

Namatende Eunice (born August 22, 1985), also known as Umeme Masanhalaze, is a Ugandan politician, pastor, and educator.[1][2][3] She is currently the woman Member of Parliament for Bugiri District in the 12th Parliament of Uganda, representing the National Resistance Movement.[1]

Personal life and education

She is a resident of Bugiri District.[1] She was born on August 22, 1985, in Nankoma Sub-county, Bugiri, to Christopher Bameka and his wife, Sarah Naigaga.[3] She has three children with her husband, David Mukwaya.[3]

She attended Buckley High School in Iganga for primary school and later joined Iganga Secondary School for her Uganda Certificate of Education, which she completed in 2001.[3] She then joined Budini Secondary School in Kaliro, where she pursued the Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) studies, leaving in 2003.[3] She later joined Ndejje University, and was awarded a bachelor's degree in education in 2006 and returned to Ndejje for a Postgraduate Diploma in Education and Institutional Management.[3] She holds a Bachelor of Social Sciences from Makerere University and a Master of Public Administration from Uganda Christian University.[2]

Career

She is a teacher by profession[1] and a pastor attached to Miracle Centre Seeta.[1]

She secured the parliamentary seat alongside Grace Kiirya Wanzala of Butembe County in Jinja District after their fifth attempt to the 12th Parliament as the Bugiri District Woman Member of Parliament, following 20 years of repeated electoral defeats.[1][4][5] In 2006, Namatende first contested as a Forum for Democratic Change flag-bearer but repeatedly lost to the National Resistance Movement candidate, Agnes Taaka Wejuli.[1][5]

She later joined the National Resistance Movement political party in 2024 before contesting for the Bugiri Municipality Member of Parliament seat under the Forum for Democratic Change political party in the 2018 by-elections, where she also lost to Jeema's Asuman Basalirwa.[1][6][3][7] In 2025, Namatende contested the National Resistance Movement primaries for the Bugiri District Woman Member of Parliament seat against Taka Wejuli and won, thereby becoming the party's flag bearer.[1] She served as the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) General Secretary for Bugiri District.[5]

She began her political career in 2006 at the age of 19–21 when she stepped into the national spotlight and contested for the Woman Member of Parliament seat under the opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), but lost.[2][3] She later returned to the polls in 2011 and again in 2016, when Justine Kasule Lumumba was elevated to the position of Secretary General within the National Resistance Movement political party, but she lost again.[2] In 2018, she contested the Bugiri Municipality by-election against Asuman Basalirwa of JEEMA, and in 2021, she again lost the Woman Member of Parliament seat.[2][7] In 2023, she changed her political party to the National Resistance Movement, marking a major shift in her political journey.[2]

Before joining politics, she worked as the program officer for a safe motherhood initiative and as a water-sanitation consultant.[2]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Busoga teachers win MP seats after four attempts". Monitor. 2026-01-24. Retrieved 2026-06-13.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Times, The Ankole (2025-07-20). "Bugiri's Namatende: The Inspiring Journey to Her First Victory in Four Decades". The Ankole Times. Retrieved 2026-06-13.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Namatende: Pastor's wife who has unsettled the Opposition". Monitor. 2021-01-09. Retrieved 2026-06-13.
  4. ↑ administrator (2018-07-31). "Directly Elected Member of Parliament, Bugiri Municipality, Bugiri District". Electoral Commission. Retrieved 2026-06-13.
  5. 1 2 3 Bwanika, Elisha Z. (2020-08-11). "The quest for Bugiri Woman MP seat gets hotter as FDC iron lady Namatende bounces back in the race". Watchdog Uganda. Retrieved 2026-06-13.
  6. ↑ "FDC's Eunice Namatende Nominated in Bugiri :". Uganda Radionetwork. Retrieved 2026-06-13.
  7. 1 2 Uganda, Watchdog (2018-07-27). "Bugiri election:FDC's Eunice Namatende concedes defeat, congratulates rival Basalirwa". Watchdog Uganda. Retrieved 2026-06-13.
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