By Mulengera Reporters
At the Sunday Nakasongola, Migera thanksgiving event to honour God for Janet’s 77th birthday anniversary, Gen Museveni (in a romantic voice) said many nice things about the First Lady who has been his wife for the last 52 years. The event was chiefly put together by Janet close associates who included UWESO CEO Jolly Kaguhangire, Deputy IGG Annie Muhairwe, Uganda Youth Forum Chairman Dr. James Magara, First Lady’s office Chief of Staff Irene Kawuma (also Under Secretary MoES), the First Daughters and a few others.
Janet was unanimously celebrated as the ideal mother, home maker and the virtuous woman depicted in Biblical scriptures under the book of Proverbs Chapter 31. A clearly animated Museveni jovially kept referring to Janet as “our mugole [bride] for today” and made it clear he doesn’t regret ever taking her on as his wife.
He recalled his first connection with Janet’s family many decades ago when, as a 10-year-old boy, he took part in the funeral of her late father Edward Kataha in Ntungamo-in April 1955. He reflected on the circumstances under which Janet lost her father when she was just 7 years. She subsequently lost her mum and beloved brother Kainerugaba.
Museveni observed that all this was too much adversity to befall the young girl that Janet was at that time. He said this unusual deprivation from that early on in her life partly explains why God has rewarded her with such long life, good family, well-behaved children and many other great things. He described her as a divinely favored woman of God and thanked God for “joining” him with her to become his spouse more than 50 years ago.
He made it clear that he had turned out to be Uganda’s longest serving and most effective leader largely because of the mental stability and blessings that come with being married to such a virtuous woman. As the carefully selected audience attentively listened, Gen Museveni narrated the circumstances of great deprivation during which they birthed Muhoozi Kainerugaba in 1974 and his follower Natasha Karugire in 1976 plus Patience in 1979, while in the Tanzanian exile. “I therefore thank God for sheltering both of us through those very difficult days.”
While thanking Janet for standing behind him and never complaining about his hard financial situation of that time, Gen Museveni specifically explained the financial difficulties he endured while in Tanzanian exile to the extent that he had to thrive on monthly handouts from the Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere. He thanked God who enabled him to always be faithful to his family by passing on to Janet that monthly contribution which the giver, Nyerere, purposed to be used for the sustenance of his family as opposed to being his personally.
Museveni explained that after passing on that monthly modest contribution from Nyerere, he personally thrived on the little allowances he would earn as an economics teacher at some obscure education institution while in the Tanzanian exile. He said those were days of great material deprivation but yet Janet always shouldered her responsibilities as a wife to the young revolutionary with all the cheerfulness she would muster-and never seemed to grumble or to consider abdication.
Describing her as the “magnificent single parent,” Museveni also reflected on the 1981-1986 period during which Janet had to be evacuated initially to Kenya where she lived with the children (as he led the NRA bush war) before relocating to Sweden where the family lived as refugees.
He recalled last seeing their last-born Diana when she was 6 months, only to reunite with the family after the January 1986 victory when she was already 6 years. Her and the other siblings couldn’t readily recognize who this tiny very talkative stone-faced man was when Museveni suddenly turned up at their flat in Sweden. This part of the Museveni narrative emotionally moved some in the audience to tears.
Museveni thanked God for the strength of character and prayerfulness Janet exhibited throughout that very difficult period. He also thanked God for the unwavering faith Janet had in him even at the time he had nothing and life seemed generally hopeless.
He then rushed through the late 1980s when Janet, as First Lady, occupied herself with charitable causes that were executed through Uganda Women’s Effort to Save Orphans (UWESO) the NGO she founded to support vulnerable widows, elderly and orphans whose bread winners had succumbed to HIV-Aids which as of those days was wiping out villages.
Janet proceeded to participate in the prevention campaign when (in 1992) she formed Uganda Youth Forum which sensitized the country’s youths about HIV prevention measures, chiefly centered around the ABC (abstinence, being faithful and condom usage) messaging. Thousands of young people were taught about the fact that there was nothing wrong or fake about shunning sex and remaining a virgin till marriage.
Documentaries were played on the huge projectors at the Migera Sunday event portraying then a much young Janet Museveni eloquently addressing young people while popularizing the ABC strategy. Several speakers gave testimonies corroborating her contribution to Uganda’s eventual success against HIV-Aids.
Museveni also referred to the sharp disagreements they had in mid-2000s when Janet all of a sudden woke up and told him God had directed her to plunge into politics to become the Ruhaama County MP, ousting Augustine Ruzindana. Museveni narrated how this caused unprecedented disagreements in the Kaguta household as he vigorously objected. “I asked her if it’s God telling you to do that, how come that same God hasn’t revealed the same to me?”
He eventually caved in after delegations of elders from Ntungamo confronted him asserting they too had got the same revelation from God clearly deploying Janet. Museveni reluctantly backed off and said at the Migera event he confessed to have been proved wrong when Janet did a very good job transforming the Ruhaama community as the area MP. That the good showing she put up inspired him to make her Minister in charge of Karamoja after all the others had declined being deployed there.
In the end, Museveni asserted that Janet did wonders and Karamoja, which was synonymous with backwardness, will never be the same again. Talking on behalf of the birthday girl’s friends, Mrs. Sheba Rukikaire (a personal friend to Janet) corroborated this when she enumerated and quantified the transformation that Janet’s tenure impacted for Karamoja.
Like their daughter Patience Rwabwogo had stated at the very beginning of the birthday event, as she led the opening prayer session, Gen Museveni asserted that the Education Ministry and sports sub sector had equally become transformed, like never before, during Janet’s tenure as Minister there. The Yoweri-Patience duo claimed that because of Janet’s great leadership and prayerfulness, Ugandan athletes began winning gold medals at international athletic events only after she became Minister there. That this has attracted great positive publicity for the country and caused Uganda to become globally hard to ignore and more respected.
Museveni said his wife had always succeeded in her public service assignments largely because she is selfless, not corrupt, not opportunistic, never self-seeking, is well intentioned and very prayerful. Saying a good leader only has to be humble enough to learn from others as opposed to portraying him or herself as all-knowing, Museveni added that the consultative approach & the “collective leadership” of listening to everybody at the Ministry had enabled Janet deliver wonders both in the Karamoja and MoES docket.
Irene Kawuma, the Musoga girl who has been Janet’s Chief of Staff for the last 15 years and was the day’s MC, repeatedly corroborated this same fact that Janet is humble, accommodative and a patient listener who always insists on inclusive decision-making because she doesn’t want to leave anyone behind. Several speakers, including two prominent religious leaders namely Bishops Joshua Lwere and Laban Jjumba, prayed for long life so that Janet lives for more than 100 years as was the case for the Biblical Moses and Joseph who respectively lived for 120 and 110 years.
Gen Museveni insisted that his wife is an athlete in the sense that “she prays and the real athletes win medals for Uganda.” He added thus: “Also her clean leadership has ensured that money for athletes isn’t stolen and that is how all those medals have been pouring in.” The President also celebrated Janet “as a home builder” who oversees all the aspects of their households leaving him to only worry about his cattle.
He caused laughter when he said that even the building of each and every house at their residences (Kisozi, Rwakitura, Ntungamo etc) is handled by Janet making it clear that: “For me I’m only about cattle and please don’t ask me about those things of modernizing and beautifying houses. That’s all the business of our Mama Janet.” (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
