Namatende Eunice

Namatende Eunice (born August 22, 1985), also known as Umeme Masanhalaze, is a Ugandan politician, pastor, and educator. She is currently the woman Member of Parliament for Bugiri District in the 12th Parliament of Uganda, representing the National Resistance Movement. 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. 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. She served as the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) General Secretary for Bugiri District.

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. 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. 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. In 2023, she changed her political party to the National Resistance Movement, marking a major shift in her political journey.

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