The power of a First Lady - Zimbabwe Part II

In my previous post, “The power of a First Lady – Africa Part I”, Grace Mugabe was briefly discussed including her impact as a First Wife. Considering the appalling economic, political and social conditions Zimbabwe is facing it is only fair to dedicate a page on Grace’s contribution to this apology of a nation.

First Lady Grace Mugabe was President Mugabe’s secretary. She was married to Stanley Goreraza, a former air force pilot now working in the Zimbabwe Embassy in China. While married to Officer Goreraza, Grace became Mugabe’s mistress forcing her husband to divorce her. As a mistress to Mugabe, Grace was less influential than Sally, his first wife.

While Sally’s record spans the whole spectrum of economic and political development, Grace’s major contribution is that she bore Robert Mugabe children in his old age. As a younger woman than Sally, Grace has considerable influence over Mugabe and shamelessly manipulates him. This affair weakened Mugabe’s standing within his party ZANU-PF. The party’s Leadership Code, which has been used as a check and balance on its leader, was thrown out of the window due to Grace's influence. This resulted in a great corruption stampede by the party leadership in a rush for wealth.

It is clear that Grace had one goal, to out do Sally on her influence over Mugabe. This heinous craving had Grace reverse, without delay, everything Sally had worked so hard to build. The Reconciliation of 1980 was discarded and war-veterans who were a well-disciplined section of the Zimbabwean society began making obscene demands for payment for their contribution to the liberation of Zimbabwe. Without the Leadership Code, the voice of reason (Sally) and the ZANU-PF leaders overtly acquiring wealth illegally, Mugabe’s leadership position was too weak to put up a fight. He ended up paying out large sums of money to each veteran as a form of gratitude.

A free for all policy transformed the once bread basket of Southern Africa to one of the poorest countries in the world. Zimbabwe’s health and education systems that were once a marvel of the region have been completely destroyed beyond repair. The once independent and effective judicial system is now a joke and there is no rule of law. Half of the population is now living outside of Zimbabwe.

This is Mugabe’s Zimbabwe under Grace.

The power of a First Lady - Asia Part II

Jian Qing - China former First Lady

In Asia where women are constrained by their culture and traditions to be subservient to men, First Ladies have been known to change the fate of their nations and affect millions of lives. Given the right conditions these women have expanded their power and influence in their respective countries.  The most infamous of the many past and present First Wives are from China, according to The Asia Mag, an online magazine. Jiang Qing assisted Mao Zedong in launching the Cultural Revolution and Soon Mei Ling helped her husband, Chiang Kai-shek extend ineffectual rule and delayed China's resistance to the Japanese invasion. Both women were responsible for the blood bath of millions in China.

Imelda Marco - Philippines former First Lady

Imelda Marcos of the Philippines is still known as the world's most famous shoe collector. She supported her dictator husband Ferdinand Marcos whose 20 year reign was marred by massive corruption, nepotism, political repression and human rights violations. When they were sent fleeing to Hawaii in 1986, they are said to have carried so much gold that their plane had to make many refueling stops.

Ibu Tien was less known to the rest of the world, than her husband General Suharto. Suharto was the second president of Indonesia who ruled with an iron fist from 1960s to 1990s. Ibu's official name was Raden Ayu Siti Hartinah, but was known by the Indonesians as Ibu Tien.  Madam Suharto was also known as "Madam 10 per cent" because of the commission she exacted. Her insatiable greed for money influenced her husband to grab money shamelessly. This greed was inherited by her six children who went all out to take money and peddle influence. She was widely acknowledge to be a close confidant and political advisor to her husband, President Suharto. Ong Hok Ham, a prominent Indonesian social historian, said in an interview "When Suharto rose to power, people believed the wife had the 'wahyu' (the flaming womb) and whoever united with her would get the 'wahyu'. After her death, people began to sense the 'wahyu' was gone." Ibu Tien died of a heart attack in 1996.


In countries such as Taiwan, Thailand and even Cambodia, that are considered democracies with regular elections by the West, have unelected First Ladies wielding uncurbed power. In Thailand, Potjaman Shinawatra chooses cabinet ministers for her husband, President Thaksin. The First Lady of Cambodia, Bun Rany Hun Sen runs among other entities the Red Cross. Madam Hun Sen is so powerful, it is said that she can get way with anything even perhaps murder. She was accused by a French magazine of arranging the murder of her husband's actress mistress. Madam Hun Sen did not respond or take action against the accusation.

Wu Shu-jen

The former Taiwan president, Chen Shui-bian was put in power by his wheelchair-bound wife, Wu Shu-jen. His popularity and high approval ratings lasted a few weeks before if fell sharply due to alleged corruption. It was his wife's addiction to money that turned his six year administration into corrupted machinery. They are both currently serving a 19 year jail term that was reduced from a life sentence.


In two of Asia's former British Colonies, Hong Kong and Singapore, the legal system does not allow First Wives to get involved in politics. However, this has not stopped  Selina Tsang nor Ho Ching from participating and exerting influence using alternative avenues. Selina is chief lobbyist of Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang (her husband) in Beijing. Ho runs the huge investment firm Temasek Holdings that is owned by the government of Singapore, of which her husband Lee Hsien Loon is the Prime Minister.


These are all powerful women in their own right and even though many seem to have cost their husbands their presidency or run down their countries, they are powerful individuals to reckon with. However, many times they are overlooked when issues are being discussed because they seem like silent, subservient wives. If you want to know the views or position on an issue of the First Lady in any country, listen when the President speaks.

Sonia Gandhi - India

First Ladies are role models for the women in their countries, whether they are good or evil. By virtue of being the most visible females in society they inspire other women who see their lives as more than just staying home and making babies. 


Possibly the most inspiring of all is Sonia Gandhi, the Italian-born widow of the late Rajiv Gandhi. She was the exemplary First Lady when her husband was prime minister of India. Her career blossomed after his death and today she runs the ruling Congress Party and through Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, decides on the fate of 1 billion people. This is a powerful woman. A First Lady who is now the First Person of India.

Source: The Asia Mag

The power of a First Lady - Africa Part I

Janet Museveni - First Lady of Uganda

Uganda's Yoweri Museveni is no longer the favored "son" of the US. His political popularity among his former allies has dwindled and he has found himself on the defensive because of the policies that his government is implementing.

However, what most people do not know is that many of the unfavorable policies and laws being passed in Parliament are spearheaded or pushed by the First Lady.  There is no decision that President Museveni passes without first going through his wife. Janet Museveni has denied recent accusations, gathered through WikiLeaks, that she is the originator of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill. However, there is no argument that she does not condone this lifestyle and has influenced her husband to make reactionary statements against the LGBT community. This First Lady ran for public office in 2008 when her husband decided not to run. He ended up running, with her support, and she was nominated and confirmed for a cabinet position in 2009.

In fairness to Mrs. Museveni, she worked on uplifting the welfare of Ugandans by proposing healthcare plans in the 1990s and fought for peace and security of children in developing countries. In 1999, she and Hillary Clinton (who then was also a First Lady) started a joint project in Uganda which helped more than 10,000 needy students with educational fees and scholastic supplies.

Grace Mugabe - First Lady of Zimbabwe

Then there is Grace Mugabe, the second wife of President Mugabe of Zimbabwe. It is said that it is only after he married Grace, his former secretary who was married to a former Air Force officer, that the country began to take a down turn. Zimbabwe was once a thriving nation led by one of the most intelligent and charismatic leaders in Africa. However, after Sally Hefron, his first wife died in 1992 of kidney failure, Mugabe married Grace and then started the idiotic policies characteristic of a mad man. Grace Mugabe was accused in 2009 of raiding the central bank vault to bank roll a family vacation in Malaysia. This was after spending $80,000 in a shopping spree in Rome the previous year while her husband was attending an UN Food and Agriculture Organization summit. In Dec. 2010, WikiLeaks cables cited her involvement in illegal diamond deals. Grace has a lavish and extravagant lifestyle in a country with such a hyper inflation rate that in 2009 it abandoned its currency. This woman influences her husband's policy decisions and unfortunately has destroyed not just the economy of Zimbabwe but the lives of thousands of people, most of whom have sought political and economic refuge in other countries.

First Ladies wield more power than we think or even know. Their word is "law and gospel" as Leymah Gbowee articulates in the video below. This is true for First Ladies around the world, even in countries where the culture demands that a woman is only to be seen and not heard.


There are First Ladies who have and have had positive influences on their husbands. These are the women that the recent Nobel Laureate, Leymah Gbowee, says should be engaged on issues affecting their countries and regions of the world.