Janet Museveni power analysed

JANET: Her political role & strategy

Kampala, Uganda | The Independent | A new study on the role played by the wives of heads of state in Africa has ranked Uganda’s Janet Museveni among the top three influential First Ladies.

The study was released on an online journal: theconversation.com on May 20 and is based on research done in 2017 and titled ‘The First Ladies of Southern Africa: Trophies or Trailblazers?’

Arguing that the role of First Lady has been largely ignored and under researched, the authors; Jo-Ansie van Wyk and Chidochashe Nyere of University of South Africa and University of Pretoria respectively, set out to analyse the political role, influence and activities of First Ladies on the African continent. Published by the `South African Journal of Political Studies’ the focus was mostly on southern Africa although the research also covered East and Central Africa.

The researchers noted that African First Ladies are no longer content to act simply as trophy wives. They are an increasingly influential political force in the inner circle of presidents and politics.

“From peace missions to summits, First Ladies play a leadership role in the sustainable development and politics of the sub-region,” they said, “In some instances however First Ladies have contributed to the undermining of accountable leadership on the continent.”

To analyse the functions, roles, strategies and agency of some of Africa’s most influential First Ladies, researchers first put together an African First Ladies Database. In it they included first ladies data based on their proximity to the executive and other decision-makers.

When the analysis was done; three emerged as particularly influential, among them Janet Museveni, wife of Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni.

The other was Grace Mugabe, the wife of then-Zimbabwe’s former president Robert Mugabe; and Denise Nkurunziza, wife of Burundi’s President Pierre Nkurunziza. These three were rated highly for being politically ambitious and actively supporting their husbands’ rule.

The researchers explored the political agendas of the First Ladies, and their roles, influence and accountability. They found that the best were influential political actors who were active domestically, regionally and internationally. This enabled them to influence relationships and to extract political support, as well as financial gain through tenders and government funding.

The researchers raised questions about the accountability of first ladies, and the transparency of their public duties and private interests.

But they noted that Africa’s first ladies are not the only ones to face scrutiny over accountability and transparency of their public duties and private interests. Similar accusations have been made against others elsewhere, the researchers said. They noted that during the presidential tenure of her husband, Hillary Clinton of the USA was often described as interfering with White House politics and Capitol Hill decisions. Similar accusations were made against, among others, Imelda Marcos of The Philippines.