Who is Esther Davinia Anyakun? Flash Uganda Media looks at her biography, age, husband, family, tribe, and relationship with Challa Elma Kapel, Miss Tourism Uganda, Frank Tumwebaze and Thomas Tayebwa, Karamoja sub-region, early life and education of the current Minister of State for Relief, Disaster Preparedness and Refugees in Uganda.
Davinia Esther Anyakun is a Ugandan politician who is also an established professional in procurement and logistics and a social worker.
Hon. Esther Davinia Anyakun is the current Minister of State for Relief, Disaster Preparedness and Refugees.
She has also been Nakapiripirit’s District Member of Parliament since 2016 and is a member of the National Resistance Movement, a political party led by Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni.
Early Life and Education
Esther Davinia Anyakun was born on April 19, 1976, in Karamoja sub-region, Nakapiripirit District. Challa Elma Kapel, her daughter, was crowned Miss Tourism Uganda in 2017.
She began her education at Nkoyoyo boarding primary school and completed her Primary Leaving Examinations in 1991.
In 1995, she joined Kangole Senior Secondary School where she sat for her Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) exams.
And then in 1999, she sat for her Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) exams at Mbale Secondary School.
She earned a Diploma in Social Work and Social Administration (SWASA) from the Makerere Institute for Social Development in 2002.
Esther Davinia Anyakun continued her education and earned a Diploma in Health Management from Uganda Christian University in 2009, as well as a Bachelor’s degree in Procurement and Logistics from Nkumba University.
On 22nd November 2021, Anyakun graduated with a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Esami University in Arusha, Tanzania together with two other Ministers Frank Tumwebaze and Thomas Tayebwa.
Career and Professional Work Experience
Esther Davinia Anyakun began her formal career at Amudat Hospital in 2004 as a senior hospital administrator, a position she held until 2010. She then changed to working as a project officer for the International Organization for Migration in 2010.
In 2013, she worked as a Regional Coordinator for Agricultural Cooperative Development International/Volunteers in Overseas Cooperative Assistance and the United States Agency for International Development until 2015.
Anyakun was elected to Uganda’s Parliament in May 2016 on the National Resistance Movement party ticket as Nakapiripiriti’s District Member of Parliament. And in the 2021 General elections, she was re-elected for the same position.
She was appointed State Minister for Relief, Disaster Preparedness and Refugees in 2021 by President Museveni, replacing Musa Ecweru who was transferred as the State Minister for Works.
Anyakun is a member of the Public Accounts Committee and the Foreign Affairs Committee in Parliament and also belongs to the Uganda Women Parliamentary Association (UWOPA). She is an Executive Committee member of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).
Achievements and Awards
Esther Davinia Anyakun is actively involved in laying strategies and the fight against child trafficking in the Karamoja sub-region.
During a national dialogue on child trafficking in Kampala in September 2021, Ms Davinia Esther Anyakun revealed that a junior minister went to the Arapai market in Napak District disguised as a Somali national, and a woman offered to sell girls to her for Shs20,000 each.
According to reports in the Karamoja sub-region, many of these kids are sold in cattle markets or to middlemen, who then force them into domestic labour, sexual exploitation, herding, and begging on the streets of the majority of Ugandan towns.
In light of this, Minister Anyakun also instructed Ugandans to refrain from providing assistance to children living on the streets, noting that doing so will eventually drive them off the streets.
Controversies
Esther Davinia Anyakun was among the MPs that voted ‘yes’ for the removal of the presidential age limit which many Ugandans and other Ministers were against.
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