Former Minister Mary Karoro Okurut, has died at the age 70 years.
She served as the Cabinet Minister in Charge of General Duties in the Office of the Prime Minister and previously held the Cabinet Minister portfolios for National Security and for Gender and Social Issues.
She was also the elected Member of Parliament for the Bushenyi District Women’s Constituency.
Born on December 8th 1954 in Bushenyi District, Okurut was a distinguished literary figure before her political career. She founded the Uganda Women Writers Association [FEMRITE].
Her literary works include the novels “The Invisible Weevil” (1998) and “The Official Wife.” She also edited “A Woman’s Voice” (1998), a collection of short stories by Ugandan women writers, and wrote “The Curse of The Sacred Cow.”
Okurut began her career in 1981 as a lecturer in the Department of Literature at Makerere University, where she had previously earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree in literature, as well as a diploma in education. She later served as a press secretary to both the vice president and the president before entering politics in 2004.
She is survived by her eight children. Her husband, Stanislaus Okurut, died in 2014.
She received her primary school education at Bweranyangi Primary School and O’level at Bweranyangi Girls’ Senior Secondary School. She then proceeded to attain her high school studies at Trinity College Nabbingo in 1972 at the age of 18 years.
Okurut enrolled at Makerere University in 1974 and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Literature (BA.Lit) in 1977. She received her Master of Arts in Literature (MA.Lit) degree from Makerere University three years later, in 1981. She later added a Diploma in Education (Dip. Ed) in 1982 from the same institution.
After earning her Master’s degree, Mary Karooro Okurut started teaching in the department of literature at Makerere in 1981. She continued to hold the position of Lecturer until 1993.From 1994 until 1996, she started working as the Press Secretary for the Vice President of Uganda.
She worked for the Ugandan Ministry of Education from 1996 to 1999 as Commissioner of the Education Service Commission. And from 1999 until 2004, she held the position of Press Secretary and began running for office as a National Resistance Movement candidate in 2004 for the Bushenyi District Women’s Constituency.
She was elected and continued to serve as Bushenyi’s woman representative in the Ugandan Parliament until the 2021 General elections when she was defeated by Annet Katusiime Mugisha in the 2020 NRM party flag bearer primaries.
From May 2011 to May 2013, when she was transferred to her present docket, she served as Minister of Information and National Guidance.
In 2012, Okurut was appointed to the Ugandan Cabinet as the Minister of Gender, Labour and Social Development replacing Syda Bumba, who left the Cabinet. She served in the position from 2012 until 2015.
She was then appointed as the National Security Minister in the Ugandan cabinet on March 1st, 2015, during a Cabinet reshuffle taking the place of Wilson Muruli Mukasa, who had been named Minister of Gender and Social Issues. She served in that position from March 1, 2015, to June 6, 2016.
On June 6, 2016, she was appointed to serve as Cabinet Minister in Charge of General Duties in the Office of the Prime Minister.
In July 2021, Okurut was appointed by President Museveni as the Senior Presidential Advisor on Public relations. And she is currently serving in this position.
Achievements and Awards
Before entering politics, Mary Karooro Okurut was perhaps best known for her literary contributions to Ugandan literature and for founding the Uganda Women Writers Association (FEMRITE).
This association has since drawn attention from around the world and has produced one Caine Prize winner, Arach Monica de Nyeko, whose story “Jambula Tree” won in 2007.
The books “The Invisible Weevil” (1998) (ISBN 9789970901029) and “The Official Wife” are among Karooro Okurut’s literary works (ISBN 9789970024018). She also edited “A Woman’s Voice,” a collection of short stories by Ugandan women writers, which was published in 1998 (ISBN 9789970901036).
She has also published children’s books and is a playwright.
Mary Okurut is also a member of the Board of Trustees of Valley University of Science and Technology in Bushenyi, Uganda.