Specioza Kazibwe

Speciosa Naigaga Wandira Kazibwe (born 1 July 1954) is a Ugandan politician and first female vice president in Africa. She was the sixth vice president of Uganda from 1994 to 2003, making her the first woman in Africa to hold the position of vice president of a sovereign nation. Kazibwe is also a Ugandan surgeon. She is also referred to as "Nnalongo", because of her twins. In August 2013, she was appointed by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as United Nations Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa.

Background and education Speciosa Kazibwe was born in Iganga District on 1 July 1954. She later obtained the degree of Master of Medicine, also from Makerere University Medical School, specializing in General Surgery. In 2009, she was awarded the degree of Doctor of Science (SD), by Harvard School of Public Health, Department of Population and International Health.

Career

Kazibwe began her political career as a chairperson of halls of residence at Makerere University Kampala (1975–76), the equivalent of a university guild president, which had been abolished by then-President Idi Amin Dada. She later became a member of the youth and women's wings of the Ugandan Democratic Party. She won her first election as a village leader, on the ticket of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) in 1987. She was later elected Women's Representative for Kampala District and became chairperson of the Advisory Committee for Museveni's election campaign.

She first began serving the administration of Yoweri Museveni in 1989, when she was appointed Deputy Minister for Industry, a post she held until 1991. From 1991 until 1994, she served as Minister for Gender and Community Development. She was a member of the Constitution Assembly which drafted Uganda's new constitution in 1994. as Uganda's vice president and as Minister of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries.

Kazibwe has been an advocate for women in Africa. In collaboration with the Organization of African Unity and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, she founded the African Women Committee on Peace and Development (AWCPD) in 1998, an organization she has also chaired. Polygamy and wife beating are relatively common in Uganda, but divorce is relatively rare. Her husband opposed the divorce, citing his Catholic faith, and saying that his wife had come home late without giving a proper explanation, and had joined with some other politicians he did not like.

Finding it difficult to perform her political duties and deal with the increasingly messy divorce case, on Wednesday, 21 May 2003, Kazibwe stepped down from her positions in government, asking to be allowed to continue her studies. She completed a doctorate at Harvard University.

She has four children, including twins from her first marriage, and has adopted several others.