How Africa News
African youngsters, unlike their counterparts in affluent countries, are demonstrating perseverance and determination to thrive in various disciplines despite the many obstacles and barriers affecting the continent and restricting their prospects of success.
Sports, technology, and governance are just a few of the fields in which African youth are excelling. More specifically, African women are taking up the challenge of breaking down some of the detrimental cultural and religious barriers that have hampered the continent’s women-folk for many years. Amazons like as Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Chimamanda Adichie, Carmen Maria de Arajo Periera, and Sylvie Kinigi are changing the space for women in Africa.
This brief look at five young African women who are following in the footsteps of their elders and having a significant effect on the continent. They are lauded for accomplishing so much and beginning their political careers at such a young age (the early twenties).
Alengot-Oromait
Proscovia Alengot Oromait was born in Kutakwi, Uganda, on January 1, 1993. In December 2011, she graduated from St Kalemba Senior High School in Kayunja District, was admitted to Ugandan Christian University in Mukono in August 2012, and was sworn into parliament in September 2012. Alengot Oromait was a student at Uganda Christian University while also serving as an MP, and he had to balance schoolwork and legislative duty. Alengot is a social justice activist who works on topics such as the environment, education, health policy, youth, and gender.
Alengot Oromait became a member of parliament at the age of 19, becoming the youngest person in Africa to do so. Following the death of her father, Michael Oromait, who was the MP for Usuk County in Uganda’s Katakwi District, she was elected an MP in 2012. She ran in the National Resistance Movement primary election to take over for her father, who was an independent politician. Her primary victory placed her in the general election alongside candidates from other parties in September 2012. Following her overwhelming victory in the general election, she was sworn in as Usuk County MP in the Katakwi district on September 21, 2021.
Emma Theofelus
On March 28, 1996, Emma Inamutila Theofelus was born. She graduated from the University of Namibia with a law degree and began her work as a legal officer at the Namibia Ministry of Justice. She was appointed by President Hage Gottfried Geingob as Deputy Minister of Information, Communication, and Technology and Member of Parliament in March 2020.
At the time of her appointment, she was the youngest government minister and MP in Namibia, the first youngest Minister in Africa, and the second youngest MP in Africa after Alengot Oromait. She was a young activist and the Deputy Speaker of Uganda’s Children’s Parliament from 2013 to 2018. Her present position as a member of Parliament and deputy minister will expire in March 2025. (March 2020 – March 2025). Emma Theofelus is Namibia’s and Africa’s youngest government minister.
Patience Masua
Patience is a member of the Namibian National Assembly. At the age of 23, President Hage Gottfried Geingob appointed the Namibian lawyer and politician to the House of Representatives. Patience was born on January 7, 1999, in Gobabis, Omaheke, Namibia, and her family later relocated to Windhoek. She became a mainstream student activist and politician while studying law at the University of Namibia. She was elected Speaker of the Namibia National Students Organization (UNAM – SRC) in 2019 and afterwards served as Secretary-General of the Namibia National Students Organization. Her election as an MP makes her the youngest MP in Namibia and the youngest female Politician in Africa.
Hlomela Bucwa
Bucwa is a former member of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University’s Student Representative Council (SRC) and former President of the SRC. She made history in 2016 as the youngest MP in South Africa, at the age of 24, when she was sworn in as a member of the Democratic Alliance Party on November 10, 2016. She was still a law student when she was sworn in as a member of parliament.
Francisca Oteng-Mensah
Francisca was born on February 14, 1993, and was elected to the Ghana Parliament in 2016 at the age of 23, making her the country’s youngest MP at the time. When Francisca stood for the parliamentary seat in 2016, she was still a second-year law student at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. She was elected by the New Patriotic Party to represent the Kwabre East Constituency in Ghana’s Ashanti Region, and she took office on January 7, 2017.
