Who is Nathan Nandala Mafabi? Flash Uganda Media looks at his biography, age, wife, family, tribe, relationship with the late Nafuna Joyce, Mzee Peter Wamuddu, late Sylvia Wanyenya Wobweni, Steven Wobweni, Mugisha Muntu, Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), early life and education of the current Budadiri County West MP, Sironko District in Uganda.
Nathan Nandala Mafabi is a Ugandan politician, lawyer, as well as an accountant.
In Uganda’s 11th parliament, he represents Budadiri County West in Sironko District. This marks his fifth term as the Budadiri West county Member of Parliament.
He is a devoted member of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) political party as well as the party’s Secretary General after being elected in 2015.
Early Life and Education
Nathan Nandala Mafabi was born on January 17, 1966, in Busamaga Village, Sironko District to the late Nafuna Joyce (mother) who died on December 8, 2022, at Mt Elgon hospital.
He is the first-born of nine children. He married Florence a qualified teacher, lawyer, and master’s degree holder in public administration with whom he has two boys and three girls.
He belongs to the Anglican faith and is a Mugisu by tribe.
Mafabi did not grow up with his parents throughout. During Idi Amin’s regime, he came back to stay in Uganda with his grandfather in Busamaga while his family was in exile in Kenya.
His grandfather was a businessman and a coffee farmer who had a large coffee plantation, Mafabi inherited it when his grandfather died.
He went to Mbale Secondary School for his O-Level studies after attending local primary schools. He studied at Busoga College Mwiri in Jinja District for his A-Level education.
He earned a Bachelor of Statistics and Economics degree from Makerere University in 1988. In 1989, he earned a Postgraduate Diploma in Education from Makerere University.
In 1993, he graduated from the Uganda Management Institute in Kampala with a Diploma in Income Tax Administration. He passed the certified public accountant exams in both Kenya and Uganda in the same year.
In 1995, he was named a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.
In 1997, he returned to Makerere University, where he earned a Master of Arts in Economics in 2000 and a Bachelor of Laws later in 2006.
Mafabi’s favorite sport and pastime is playing tennis.
Career and Professional Work Experience
Nathan Nandala Mafabi began his career journey by working as a tax assessor for the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) in 1988 and remained there until 1993.
He then started working as a revenue officer from 1993 to 1994. In 1995, he was promoted to senior revenue officer, a position he held until 1996. And in 1997, he became the principal revenue officer at URA.
From 1998 to 2000, he was promoted to senior principal revenue officer and acting chief internal auditor at URA. Mafabi also worked as a financial management consultant in the private sector from 2000 to 2001.
Nandala Mafabi first entered Ugandan politics in 2001, when he ran for the Budadiri County West parliamentary seat. He was successfully elected and later re-elected in 2006 and 2011 after serious threats and several attempts to sabotage his re-election. He was also elected again in 2016 and 2021 to represent Budadiri in Parliament.
He was the leader of the opposition in the parliament from May 2011 to January 2014. He was also appointed as the shadow Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development.
Maj. Gen. Gregory Mugisha Muntu defeated Nandala Mafabi in the elections conducted in November 2012 at Mandela National Stadium for the position of FDC Party President.
Achievements
Nandala Mafabi participates in charitable activities through the Nandala Foundation, which involves enrolling underprivileged children to school. He also makes good use of his accounting expertise by providing free financial services to mosques and churches.
Nandala Mafabi was the chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on the Economy from 2001 to 2006. He then served as the chairman of the parliament’s Public Accounts Committee from 2006 to 2011 where he took a strong anti-corruption stance in Ugandan parliament.
He has been the chairman of Bugisu Cooperative Union (BCU) since 2008. During this tenure, he has vouched for the rise in coffee prices from less than 2,000 Ugandan shillings a kilogram to more than 10,000 Ugandan shillings making the farmers nick-name Arabica coffee by his name ‘Nandala’. BCU was also able to revive students’ scholarships in the region.
Honorable Nandala Mafabi currently serves as Vice-Chairman of the Parliamentary Network on the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
Since January 1995, Mafabi has been a partner at MTC Associates an auditing firm in Uganda.
Controversies
Hon. Nandala Mafabi has faced a fair share of being assaulted by the army during his election periods and he has even been shot at some times.
In February 2011, eleven people who were hurt in clashes between armed men and supporters of the current Budadiri West MP, Nandala Mafabi, received medical care from Uganda Red Cross. The incident happened in Masamire village just after polls opened in the morning.
One of the wounded, Mushedu Wagima, claimed that the battle started when armed men stopped Nandala’s convoy of three vehicles. And when the Member of Parliament and his crew went to inquire what the problem could be, they were assaulted.
Mzee Peter Wamuddu alleged that in June 2017, Hon. Nandala Mafabi threatened to exhume and throw away the remains of his late daughter Sylvia Wanyenya Wobweni who had been buried for 11 years at her husband’s home on the outskirts of Mbale town in a bid to develop the land in Mbale Town.
Steven Wobweni the husband to the late Sylvia however, reported that the forms that declared that the land belonged to Hon. Mafabi had been forged. Wabweni was astonished when he discovered that his wife’s body had been exhumed and taken to an unknown place.
In October 2017, Hon. Nandala Mafabi was arrested in Mbale town and detained at Tororo Central Police Station as he was on his way to his Budadiri to consult with his voters over the controversial age-limit bill.
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