Sarah Achieng Opendi, sometimes Sarah Opendi Achieng, is a

Ugandan }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The southe ...

accountant An accountant is a practitioner of accounting or accountancy. Accountants who have demonstrated competency through their professional associations' certification exams are certified to use titles such as Chartered Accountant, Chartered Certifi ...

and

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

. She is the State Minister of Mineral Development in the Ugandan cabinet, since 14 December 2019. Before that, from 6 June 2016 until 14 December 2019, she served as the State Minister of Health for General Duties. Prior to that, from 15 August 2012 until 6 June 2016, she served as the Minister of State for Primary Healthcare. Prior to that, from 27 May 2011 until 15 August 2012, she served as the State Minister for Lands. In the cabinet reshuffle of 1 March 2015, she retained her cabinet post.

Background and education

She was born in

Tororo District Tororo District is a district in the Eastern Region of Uganda. The town of Tororo hosts the district headquarters. Location Tororo District is bordered by Mbale District to the north, Manafwa District to the north-east, Kenya to the east, Busi ...

on 26 September 1968. She studied accounting, graduating from the ''National College of Business Studies'', in 1994, with the Diploma in Accounting. In 1998, she successfully passed the examinations of the

Association of Chartered Certified Accountants Founded in 1904, the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) is the global professional accounting body offering the Chartered Certified Accountant qualification (ACCA). It has 240,952 members and 541,930 future members worldwid ...

, leading to award of the title of Associate Chartered Certified Accountant Level II. That same year, she graduated from

Makerere University Makerere University, Kampala (; Mak) is Uganda's largest and oldest institution of higher learning, first established as a technical school in 1922. It became an independent national university in 1970. Today, Makerere University is composed of ni ...

with the degree of

Bachelor of Business Administration Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) is a bachelor's degree in business administration awarded by colleges and universities after completion of undergraduate study in the fundamentals of business administration and usually including advanced ...

. In 2005, she received the degree of

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

, also from Makerere.

Career

Her professional career began in 1994 as an Accounts Assistant at ''Uganda Consolidated Proportions Limited'', a subsidiary of the government-owned

Uganda Development Corporation The Uganda Development Corporation (UDC) is an agency of the government of Uganda. It promotes and facilitates the industrial and economic development of Uganda. Formed in 1952, it had some success in promoting local industrial development and was ...

(UDC). In 1996, she was promoted to

Accountant An accountant is a practitioner of accounting or accountancy. Accountants who have demonstrated competency through their professional associations' certification exams are certified to use titles such as Chartered Accountant, Chartered Certifi ...

, at the same company, serving in that capacity until 1998. From 1998 until 2000, she served as the Deputy Speaker of Tororo District Council. She also served as an ''Inspectorate Officer'' in the office of the Inspector General of Government (IGG), from 1999 until 2003. From 2003 to 2004, she was promoted to ''Senior Inspectorate Officer'', in the IGG's office. From 2004 until 2006, she was promoted to ''Principal Inspetorate Officer'' in the office of the IGG. During the same timeframe, she served as the ''Deputy Project Coordinator'' of the DANIDA Anti-Corruption Project. From 2006 until 2007, she served as the Accountant of the ''Acholi Bursary Program'', a project of the Royal Netherlands Embassy. From 2009 until 2010, she served as the finance manager at ''Windle Trust Uganda'', an

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

. In 2011, she successfully contested the parliamentary seat of Women's Representative for

under the

National Resistance Movement The National Resistance Movement ( sw, Harakati za Upinzani za Kitaifa; abbr. NRM) has been the ruling party in Uganda since 1986. History The National Resistance Movement (NRM) was founded as a liberation movement that waged a guerrilla ...

political party ticket. She was appointed Minister of State for Lands, serving in that position from 2011 until 2012. In a cabinet reshuffle on 15 August 2012, Opendi was appointed Minister of State for Primary Healthcare.

2016 political season

Sarah Achieng Opendi was the elected

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for Tororo District Women's Representative until 2016. During the primaries of the ruling

political party, in October 2015, Opendi lost 42,718 vs 44,444 to Jacinta Ayo. During the general elections of February 2016, she ran as an Independent. She was declared the winner with 61,800 votes vs 59,790 votes received by Jacinta Ayo. Ayo went to court and was able to prove that the returning officers altered the vote tally sheets at more than one polling station. In total, she was able to prove that a total of 1,765 votes had been taken away from her. The correct final tally, according to the evidence was Ayo 61,276 vs Opendi 60,772. The High Court sitting at

Mbale Mbale is a city in the Eastern Region of Uganda. It is the main municipal, administrative, and commercial center of Mbale District and the surrounding sub-region. Location Mbale is approximately , by road, northeast of Kampala, Uganda's capita ...

on 28 July 2016, ordered that Opendi be kicked out of Parliament and that fresh elections be held.

Other considerations

Sarah Achieng Opendi is single.

References

External links