Who is Hellen Adoa? Flash Uganda Media looks at her biography, age, husband, family, tribe, relationship with Alice Alaso, Ajele Iseera, Serere District Women Representative, early life and education of the current State Minister for Fisheries in Uganda.
Hellen Adoa is the State Minister for Fisheries in the Ugandan Cabinet and the Women’s Member of Parliament for Serere District in the eleventh Ugandan Parliament (2021 to 2026).
She is referred to by her supporters as “Ajele Iseera,” which, when translated from the Ateso language, means “the dove of Serere.”
Early life and Education
Hellen Adoa was born in the Teso subregion of the Eastern Region of Uganda’s Serere District on January 25, 1977. She is the third of nine children, in a family of two girls and seven boys. She attended Kelim Primary School for her primary schooling.
She continued her studies at Ngora Girls Secondary School for her O-Levels, receiving her Uganda Certificate of Education in 1992.
She earned the Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education in 1995 after finishing her A-level at Ngora High School.
Hon. Adoa has a diploma in business studies from Victoria Business Institute in Tororo and a second diploma in education management from Uganda Martyrs University in Nkozi.
She also graduated from Uganda Martyrs University in Nkozi with a Master of Local Governance and Human Rights and a Bachelor of Democracy and Development Studies. She also holds a degree in theology.
Career and professional work experience
Hellen Adoa worked as the director of several early childhood and elementary schools for 15 years, from the beginning of 2001 to the end of 2015, some of which she co-owned. At Halcyon High School, she also serves as a director.
In 2011, she ran for the Serere District Women Constituency parliamentary seat to begin her career in Uganda’s electoral politics but was defeated by the incumbent Alice Alaso.
She contested again in 2016 and won the election and is now the Serere District’s legitimate member of parliament. She is a member of the National Resistance Movement, which is now in power.
On 14 December 2019, she was nominated by Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, the country’s head of state, on December 14 to the role of minister of state for Fisheries in the Ugandan cabinet. On January 13, 2020, she took the oath of office as state minister for fisheries.
Politics
Hellen Adoa ran against Alice Alaso in the elections of 2011 but lost. She then came back stronger in the elections of 2016, winning with a significant margin of 16,111 votes.
Up until Hellen Adoa (NRM) ousted her in one of the most dramatic election upsets ever seen in Teso, Alaso was a dynamic politician and the unchallenged kingmaker for the Teso subregion.
Alaso, who had held the position of Woman MP for 15 years running, didn’t give go easily though. She was enraged and took Adoa to court, accusing him of vote rigging among other wrongdoings.
The election petition was brought before the Court of Appeal, where Alaso ultimately acknowledged loss after Steven Kavuma’s decision upheld Adoa’s victory.
Achievements and awards
Hellen Adoa is a social worker and an education manager in addition to being a politician. Adoa has a very strong passion for health and education. She has provided accessible education by supporting talented but underprivileged kids in Teso.
In terms of health, she has assisted those who are ill by establishing health clinics and setting up camps to fight diseases like hepatitis and cervical cancer.
She has constructed a lot of schools, particularly in the areas of Soroti and Serere, in Teso.
Halcyon High School, Teso Boarding Primary School, Toto Adoa Primary School, New York Primary School, and Halcyon High School Serere Campus are just a few of the schools that Adoa has established.
After she returned from the United Kingdom, Hellen Adoa began investing in schools. Halcyon High School, her first institution, was established in 2001 on land she had acquired in the Soroti District’s Asuret Sub-county.
Later, she constructed New York Primary School in Serere District in 2006, Toto Adoa in 2010, and Teso Boarding Primary School in 2006.
Adoa says that all these schools were paid for by loans, help from her father, who assisted her in constructing five schools, and some acquaintances she had made in the UK.
Controversies
Due to her work on the ground, Hon. Hellen Adoa is beloved by the Serere district’s residents despite not participating in debates on the floor of parliament.
Most notably, she displayed extreme cultural reverence and humility by sitting on the sand-covered ground alongside other mourners at the funeral of Teso elder Nimirod Emonu in Kakuja-Aatoi, Serere district.
Minister Adoa preferred a silent entry and seated herself on the ground among her fellow women, as is the tradition in Teso, in contrast to other politicians who demand VIP treatment and special acknowledgement even during difficult times.
Without any fanfare or clamour, Ajele Iseera arrived at the funeral and respectfully sat down on the ground where other women had already laid their bodies. She was a member of the congregation that had gathered to send off Mzee Emonu, but very few mourners were aware of this.
After barely 4 and a half years since she ousted Alice Alaso of the FDC, she has transformed the Serere district, demonstrating her humility via her good acts. In Serere, Adoa is untouchable, thus it is not surprising that she faced no opposition in the recently held NRM Primaries.
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