Author of the book “It’s A Pity She’s Not A Boy” Honorable Joyce Mpanga is celebrated as a first of almost everything when it came to women empowerment and achievement.
- First African deputy head teacher of Gayaza High school
- First Female to obtains a Masters degree in East and Central Africa
- First Female to sit on the Lukiiko (Buganda Parliament)
Early life and education
Joyce Rovincer Mpanga was born to Mr. Masembe, on 22 January 1934 in Mityana, Uganda.
She was admitted to Gayaza High School in 1946 where she spent six years, and was also head girl for two years. She left in 1952.
From Gayaza, Mpanga went on to graduate from Makerere College in 1958. She thereafter went to the University of London for a Bachelor of Arts and then Indiana University Bloomington for her Master of Science in 1962. This qualified her as the first Female to obtains a Masters degree in East and Central Africa.
Joyce was the third woman in the East Africa region to get a university degree and the first Ugandan woman to win a US Fulbright scholarship.
Political Life and Career
Mpanga began her career as a teacher at Makerere College in 1958 and then became the first deputy headmistress of Gayaza High School of African decent in 1962.
During her time in Makerere, Mpanga was elected onto the Uganda Legislative Council in 1960. She left for England in exile a year after the 1966 attack of Lubiri and returned to Uganda in 1972.While in England, she was an elementary school teacher.
Mpanga was the First female to sit on the Lukiiko (Parliament to the Kindgom of Buganda). Mpanga became a member of the Lukiiko for Buwekula and was a representative of women for Buganda’s parliament since 2011.
In 1988, Mpanga became Uganda’s first Minister of Women in Development. The following year, she was named Minister of State for Primary Education and held this position until 1991.
In between her political positions, she took part in the rewriting of the Constitution of Uganda in 1995.
Apart from serving in the cabinet of Uganda, Mpanga was also a Member of Parliament for the Mubende District from 1996 to 2001.
Personal life
She was the wife to Andrew Fredrick Mpanga, who by the time of their marriage in 1965 was the attorney general of Buganda under Kabaka Mutesa II. Andrew had also served Buganda as the solicitor general.
Mpanga’s children; Peter and David Mpanga are strongholds in the Kingdom. David Mpanga has served the current Kabaka in different capacities from attorney general and minister of Local Government in the Buganda government. He currently serves as minister for special assignments at the Mengo-based institution.
“I want to be remembered for the work I have done because I have done a lot of volunteer work, particularly in women,” she said four years ago in an interview with URN.
Mpanga died on 18 November 2023, at the age of 90.