You will never experience growth if you confine yourself to a life of stagnation. In this episode of the Footprints Podcast, Hon. Victoria Sekitoleko traces a life “always on the move” and shows how mindset powers both leadership and personal growth.
Her first lesson is self-worth: “It’s a joy to be me.” She learned it early in Jinja, nurtured by a father who never lumped his five daughters together as “the girls,” but called each by name and declared leaders in all of them.
Movement shaped her. As a child she transferred between primary schools—distance, quality, and at times hostility toward her family forced change—until she settled at Walikuba Estate School, then Iganga Girls Junior School for three years after Primary Six (there was no Primary Seven), and finally Gayaza High School in 1964 for her entire secondary education.
At Uganda Development Bank, where she served as an Agricultural Banking Officer, she helped pioneer a Women’s Movement in a male-dominated office, organizing around practical needs like clean water and hygiene in workplace restrooms. In 1985, amid the HIV pandemic, she led awareness efforts on STDs that later informed staff-wide education when she became Head of Administration.
Beyond the bank, she worked with the Friendly Hands Organization, focused on poverty alleviation, first as secretary general, later as chairperson, and was nominated to the preparatory meeting for the World Women’s Meeting in Nairobi, where Ugandan delegates built an umbrella to support women’s organizations.
Appointed Minister for Agriculture, Animal Industry, and Fisheries in 1987 by President Yoweri Museveni, she served nine demanding years as one of the early female ministers, without predecessors to mentor them. She helped launch the Best Farmer Awards, brokered scholarships for outstanding farmers to further study in the United States, and secured tractors to boost productivity, practical wins that changed livelihoods.
Leadership also tested her. Some colleagues spread claims that her sector received “special budgets.” The Minister of Finance disproved the rumour with records, but the episode revealed the costs of public service and the reality of sabotage, despite honest work.
After leaving politics, she joined the United Nations, serving in Zimbabwe, Mongolia, and China. She had prepared three years in advance, informing the president of her plan to transition and learning French to serve effectively in an international arena.
At sixty-two she retired from the UN and returned home equipped to thrive. Accepting that change is constant, she planned for reintegration and financial independence: establishing privately run public libraries to supplement education; organising reading competitions; and founding a public speaking school. She continues to champion agri-business and women’s leadership. “There is a lot of work to do here in Uganda,” she says.
Her journey distills clear counsel: know who you are; stay alert to your context and the people in it; listen well; set goals and plan for change before it arrives. Be pragmatic yet tenacious in a world where not everyone has your interests at heart. Guard your mindset against self-sabotage, and, above all, remain adaptable, because to thrive, you must keep moving.
©Blurb written byDivine Karungi
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