Weyonje means clean yourself in Luganda, the language of Buganda Kingdom in which Entebbe Municipality in Wakiso District in Central Uganda is located.

Used in the context of Weyonje program it it is intended to promote the culture of each and everyone participating in keeping their surroundings and community clean and in good hygienic conditions, explained Honourable Namyalo Pauline, Woman Councillor of Kiwafu West Village; and Vice-Chairperson of Division B.

Hon. Namyalo Pauline, Woman Councillor Kiwafu West Village, Vice Chairperson Division B, Entebbe Municipality, Wakiso District.

As we chatted about Weyonje Program, Hon. Namyalo joyfully shared the fact that she is undergoing or is an alumnai of the Swedish International Centre for Local Democracy (ICLD) Leadership Program for women political leaders in East African countries. According to her, a program in which her leadership skills, conduct and ethics as a leader are greatly enhanced.

According to the ICLD website, among the objectives of the program is:

“To help the participant to fully utilize the power and influence of her positition.”

Which got me thinking about the extent to which Hon. Namyalo may be in a strategic position to utilize the power and influence of her position as the Vice -Chairperson of Division B to persuade the political leadership to demand for provision of public menstrual hygiene services for Kiwafu West Village and Division B as a whole.

The first step would be to break the taboo of leaders not publicly talking about mentrustrual hygiene. Once that happens, there may be realization that provision of public menstual hygiene services is feasibile and affordable, and in the long term a viable intitiative to put in place.

Namara Claire, 17th Vice Guild President of Kyambogo University, as part of the recent “Gen-Z anti-corruption peaceful demonstrations” held a solo demonstration at Rubaga Cathedral to bring attention to the plight of young girls experiencing period poverty. Hon. Magogo is the husband of the Speaker of Parliament Among and the latter recently gifted her husband a Landcruiser for his birthday, reportedly using her own personal money and not public resources. Namara was arrested and detained at Old Kampala Police Station overnight and was released on no cash bail of Shs. 500,000 to return to court on 22nd August 2024 to answer charges of “distrubing the peace of religious assembly.” Source of information @ Human Rights Lawyer representing Namara, Kiiza Eron’s social media posts.

Menstrual hygiene services include both products, such as sanitary pads, as well as the infrastructure and systems to manage the disposal of used pads containing medical waste. Right from provision of period friendly toilets, collection systems for used menstrual products and their final disposal in a manner that ensures good public health and which does not bring harm to the environment.

This is the conversation we would like to have with Hon. Namyalo in our future interactions, hopefully soon. How to innovate and suggest solutions for the current problem of absolutely no public infrastructre, no systems, no local government by-laws and no budgets for handling safe disposal of used menstrual products in Kiwafu West Village and seemingly in the whole of Division B.

In a nutshell, how can menstrual hygiene promotion become a major component of the Weyonje Program? This is the question on which we would like to explore with Hon. Namyalo and through her the political and technical leadership of the Division B local government and through them Entebbe Municipal Councila and through them the Wakiso District Local Government.