AIDE MEMOIRE -DR SPECIOSA KAZIBWE WANDIRA
CANDIDATE FOR CHAIRPERSON, AU COMMISSION (2016-2020)
Dr Wandira has been endorsed by the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uganda
and the Eastern African Region as their Candidate for the post of Chairperson, AU
Commission.
Dr Wandira is a physician and trained social scientist, veteran politician, diplomat and
Pan Africanist. In 2013 she served as Special Envoy of the Secretary General of the
United Nations for HIV/AIDS in Africa and is currently a member of the African Union
Panel on the Wise, one of the critical pillars of the Peace and Security Architecture of
the African Union.
As Executive Vice President of the Republic of Uganda for a total of 9 years – beginning
1994, and the first Woman Vice President in Africa, Dr Wandira oversaw government
restructuring and pragmatic economic reforms that are credited with delivering
commendable economic growth rates for Uganda that continue to this date. She was
also at the forefront of efforts to find lasting solutions to regional conflicts, facilitating and
mediating conflicts in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Sudan and
Somalia.
Dr Wandira served as Deputy Minister for Industry and Technology (1989-1991) and as
Cabinet Minister forWomen in Development, Culture and Youth (1991-1993),
spearheadingthe first and internationally acclaimed multi-sectoral strategy to contain the
spread of HIV/AIDS in Uganda.
Impassioned by the Pan Africanist ideal, and steeped in the understanding that Africa
needs African solutions to African problems, Dr Wandira has traversed the African
continent mobilizing governments to embrace gender policies that involve women and
young people in peace building and conflict resolution mechanisms.
Dr Wandira will draw from her vast international experience and global networks to
mobilize Africa to take charge of her destiny through crystalizing Africa’s vision of ‘an
integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, driven by its own citizens and representing
a dynamic force in the global arena’.
Born on 1 July 1955 in Uganda, Dr Wandira holds a Doctor of Science (DSc) in
Populations and Global Health from the Harvard School of Public Health, USA, (2009),
a Master of Medicine (MMed-Surgery) (1987) and a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor
of Surgery (MBCh.B) (1979) from Makerere University Kampala.
MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
KAMPALA
