В Уганде скончалась пионер женского движения Эдна Кентаро, создавшая основы гендерной политики страны

KAMPALA — Uganda has lost Edna Kentaro Kaisho Baryaruha, a pioneering gender advocate who played an important role in the early development of the country’s gender policy framework. Baryaruha, the mother of journalist and media executive Marvin Baryaruha and the matriarch of the Baryaruha family, was remembered for her long career in public service and her advocacy for women’s rights. Minister Henry Tumukunde mourned her death, describing her as “a distinguished advocate for women’s rights and a pioneering pillar of Uganda’s Ministry of Gender.” Baryaruha served as the first Director of Gender, at a time when gender affairs fell under the Ministry of Development. In that role, she helped shape policies and programmes aimed at recognising and advancing the contribution of women to Uganda’s social and economic development. Her public service career also included an unusual connection to President Yoweri Museveni. According to Tumukunde, Baryaruha worked as a teacher alongside Museveni during the early years of his career. Her life was also marked by Uganda’s turbulent political history. Together with her husband, the late Hon. Azarias Ndiira Baryaruha, a former Minister of Industry and entrepreneur, she experienced political persecution that forced the family into exile on two separate occasions. The couple eventually returned to Uganda, where they continued their public and professional contributions. Tumukunde said Baryaruha’s legacy extended beyond her government career, describing her as a woman whose life touched her family, colleagues and wider society. “May her soul rest in eternal peace, and may God comfort the Baryaruha family, her friends, and all who were touched by her remarkable life,” he said. Her death marks the passing of a generation of Ugandan public servants who helped establish the institutional foundations for the country’s modern gender policies, while leaving behind a family shaped by public service, political struggle and entrepreneurship.