Olivia Kabaale Kwagala

Olivia Kabaale Kwagala came from Iganga District in the Busoga sub-region of eastern Uganda, the district she would later represent in Parliament. Reports of her death gave her age as 57. Details of her childhood, family background and education have not been widely published. In Iganga she was popularly known by the nickname Muliro Mulege.

Kwagala won the Iganga District Woman Member of Parliament seat at the 2011 general election, standing for the National Resistance Movement. She defeated Beatrice Zirabamuzaale Magoola, then the minister in charge of the Luweero Triangle, and served in the Ninth Parliament of Uganda from 2011 to 2016.

As a legislator she campaigned for a modern market for the business community in Iganga Municipality and for the elevation of Iganga General Hospital to referral status. Former district leaders said she lobbied successfully for boreholes to improve access to clean water and supported disadvantaged children through bursaries.

She lost the seat at the 2016 election to Grace Hailat Kaudha. Afterwards she joined the electricity distributor Umeme as a staff member, and former Iganga District chairman Patrick Kayemba said she used that role to help several communities obtain electricity connections.

Kwagala kept close ties with Iganga throughout her life and remained involved in community development there after leaving Parliament. New Vision reported that at the time of her death she had no children.

Kwagala died on Monday 2 November 2026 at Mulago National Referral Hospital in Kampala, aged 57. She had been ill for a long time and had been bedridden for several months. The specific illness was not made public.

Her death was confirmed by Haji Abubaker Walubi, the NRM chairperson for Iganga District, who said local party leaders had told President Yoweri Museveni about her condition and that the President had then contributed towards her medical bills. Walubi said the party would contact its national secretariat to support the family with burial arrangements.

The Minister for the Presidency, Milly Babalanda, paid tribute, saying: "Her death is a great loss to her family, the people of Iganga District, and all those who knew and worked with her." Burial details were to be announced by the family and party leadership.

Kwagala is remembered in Iganga as a hands-on district representative whose work focused on practical services: water, electricity, schooling support for poor children, a better market and a stronger hospital. Former district chairmen Ezra Gabula and Patrick Kayemba both said that she kept working for Iganga's development long after her single term in Parliament had ended.