Uganda LAWA Fellow 1995-1996 L.L.B., Makerere University Post Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice, Law Development Center, Uganda L.L.M., Georgetown University Law Center Parliamentarian- Raja Chambers Annex Plot No. 3, Parliament Ave. P.O. Box 25324 Kampala, Uganda Work Phone: 256-77-507047 Email: lawa@infocom.co.ug

Affiliations: LAW-Uganda (LAW-U) HURINET UWONET ALASSIDU Uganda Law Society FIDA-U

Profile:

On August 3rd, 2006 Ms. Dora Byamukama was elected to represent Uganda as an Honorable Member of the East African Legislative Assembly of 2006-2011, the branch of legislative government which takes precedence over legislation of national parliaments. In the Honorable MP Byamukama’s words, “This is another achievement for the WLPPFP, it is an opportunity for us to take the fight for women’s rights to a regional level.”

She is a member of the National Disciplinary Committee of the National Resistance Movement (NRM), a member of the Legal Committee which provides for the Gender Committee, and has served on Select Committees of Parliament in the following areas: Election Violence, Amendment of the Land Act, Political Financing, and Industrial Relations.

MP Byamukama wrote a number of research papers while attending Georgetown University Law Center. During her fellowship, MP Byamukama gave a presentation on her paper, “How Ugandan Customs and Practices Creation Constraints to the Economic Participation of Women,” in which she discussed customary marriages, inheritance, and bride price, among other topics.

She completed her graduate thesis entitled, “Giving Ugandan Women the ‘Master Key’: Using legal strategies to increase women’s access to higher education.” In addition, she wrote “Identification of Common Denominators of Traditional Dispute Resolution Mechanisms in Uganda,” and “Implications of Male Bias in Structural Adjustment: Programs Implemented in Uganda.”

For her Fellowship internship, MP Byamukama worked at the World Bank performing research on gender bias in structural adjustment programs in Uganda and on a source book on legal constraints to women's economic empowerment in Uganda. There, she wrote “Gender and Land Tenure Issues in East Africa” which examined how the lack of secure interest in land is the single most important constraint to women’s economic empowerment in Uganda.

MP Byamukama returned to Kampala in November 1996 as Principal Legal Officer for the Uganda Posts and Telecommunications Corporation. In 1997she became Assistant Field Project Director of the International Law Institute Kampala Training Center. That same year, she was a resource person for a proposed land bill at a workshop on the land bill and women’s rights.

She co-founded the Law and Advocacy for Women in Uganda (LAW-Uganda) NGO in 1997, a group with which she continues to devote her time and energy. She has served on the interview panel for the LAWA Program in Kampala, Uganda and Johannesburg, South Africa to assist the selection of candidates for future fellowships. She produced LAW-Uganda’s 1999 and 2000 annual reports and published materials to promote education of women’s rights and sensitization of the public to women’s advancement.

In July 2001, MP Byamukama was elected an Honorable full Member of the Ugandan Parliament (Mwenge County South), for a term of five years. During her tenure, she acted as Vice Chair and later Chair of the Legal Committee of Parliament, Chair of the Equal Opportunities Committee of Parliament, and Chair of the Select Committee on Industrial Relations. She has drafted bills on the following areas: Persons with Disabilities, Trafficking in Persons, Labor Laws, Domestic Violence, Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting, and Reproductive Rights.

Publications:

MP Byamukama has published several articles in the New Vision newspaper:

“Nakku is a crime against innocence,” April 15, 1999.

“The good, bad side of Domestic Relations Bill,” October 28, 1999.

“The Battle Against Domestic Violence,” March 8, 2000.

“Protecting the Vulnerable,” December 9, 2000.