Often described as mothers to the nations their husbands lead, Africa’s first ladies are often expected to be unifying figures, serving the president of the nation and the voters who entrusted him the mandate to lead.
A first lady by definition is the wife of the head of state, and it therefore follows that most African nations led by a male president, has a first lady.
As of March 2019, all African countries have male heads of state. The last female head of state who led an African nation was Liberia’s Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, whose tenure expired in January 2018.
Across the continent, several first ladies have been recognised, applauded and sometimes vilified for the roles they play to support the politics of their husbands.
As we celebrate women in the month of March and beyond, Africanews shall publish the profiles and work of different African first ladies, highlighting their politics and activism among other issues.
In this article, you will find the details of the following First Ladies;
- Rwanda’s Jeanette Kagame
- Gabon’s Sylvia Bongo Ondimba
- Egypt’s Entissar Amer
- Uganda’s Janet Museveni
- Ethiopia’s Zinash Tayachew
- Kenya’s Margaret Kenyatta
- Cameroon’s Chantal Biya
Rwanda’s Jeanette Kagame
- Full name / age: Jeannette Nyiramongi Kagame/ 56 years old
- Mandate: First Lady since 24 March, 2000
- Profession: holds a degree in Business and Management Science
- Politics: plays a symbolic supporting role to her husband’s political career
- Advocacy: runs Imbuto Foundation, whose mission is to support the development of a healthy, educated and prosperous society
- Family: Wife to president Paul Kagame since 1989, the couple have four biological children together.
Jeannette Kagame hosted the first African First Ladies’ Summit on Children and HIV/AIDS Prevention in May 2001 in Kigali, Rwanda, and co-founded the Organisation of African First Ladies against HIV/AIDS (OAFLA) in 2002. She served as the OAFLA president from 2004 until 2006.
The Imbuto Foundation – which means “seed” in Kinyarwanda, established in 2007, extends basic care and economic support to HIV affected families and has various programmes in health, education, youth and economic empowerment.
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