Hon Joyce Bagaala Ntwaatwa shares her story on how she rose from the newsroom to parliament.
Mityana District Woman MP Hon Joyce Bagala speaks about how she was determined to become a leader and an inspiration to many other women in Uganda.
Joyce Bagala Ntwatwa says she was trained by the late Bbaale Francis at UMCAT who was very particular about pronunciations and encouraged her to be a better journalist.
After finishing school at UMCAT, she got a job at Buddu FM later moving to beat FM, Radio One, and after became a news anchor on TV.
She says everybody has an audience and that the 1st time she was on TV, the audience welcomed her thanking them for theirr love and support.
” I remained just & professional and didn’t focus on the negativity but value addition.”Hon Bagala says
She adds that during her time in the newsroom, she became exposed and saw a lot of what was not going right in the country as far as leadership is concerned. This tempted her to design a strategy on how she can become the voice of the voiceless hence stepping into the deep waters of politics for the 1st time in 2016.
“The 1st time I stood for the parliamentary elections in 2016, I lost. The 2nd time around, I was determined and I knew I would win. I joined a political party that had the same aspirations as mine. I had a lot of support from other MPs like Hon Kalwanga, Hon Francis Zaake, etc.” She says
“I made a decision to avoid borrowing for the campaigns. Fellow journalists, well-wishers, the old boys, and girls financed my campaigns. Before the elections, I resigned from my work as a news manager and went to Mityana for the campaigns.” she adds
Hon Bagala adds that the voters always have expectations including family and friends I am talking about our families, electorate, and friends.
She says once you are an MP, there’s an assumption that you are capable of solving world problems adding that You have to deal with different people from different backgrounds and status and you need to adjust to their timing.
Hon Bagala says she encourages many women out there to step up and take on leadership positions when a chance comes begging and never to have an inferiority complex within themselves.
She adds that she is working hard to mentor so many girls out there so that they can become good future leaders in this country
“I am good at keeping time probably because I am an early raiser. People assume I am tough but I am not. I am emotional and hate seeing pain in others. I am also good at maintaining relationships. In summary, that is me.” she concludes.