By Mulengera Reporters
Unwilling to go down alone, Youth & Children Affairs Minister Florence Nakiwala Kiyingi (who is among those President Museveni banned from attending cabinet meetings because he was uncertain about their COVID status) has turned tables on Health Minister Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng who is famously leading Uganda’s response to the COVID pandemic.
In a media interview, Nakiwala says she feels betrayed seeing Aceng remaining conspicuously silent yet she (Aceng) equally was exposed to similar flight conditions that the President based on to consider her unsafe. And this caused the intelligence services to report to the President that her husband Deo Kiyingi of DP was exposed and therefore unsafe as far as Coronavirus is concerned. Because COVID spreads from one person to another, the circumstances of Deo Kiyingi’s to the country caused the President to perceive Nakiwala as exposed hence justifying his apprehension to ask her to keep away from his cabinet meetings.
According to Bukedde newspaper, Nakiwala admits that her Deo Kiyingi returned from South Africa on Sunday 1st March but he wasn’t alone on that flight. That he was with other members of the Parliamentary Committee on Science & Technology who had travelled for official work under Speaker Kadaga’s authorization.
She then wonders which criterion was used to single out her husband for all this subsequent stigmatization without the others being subjected to similar suspicion. Saying she didn’t do anything wrong, Nakiwala adds that she rung Aceng consulting her as a colleague on what should be done to ensure Mr. Kiyingi was safe and doesn’t expose others to risk. That Aceng advised it was okay for him to go home and freely mingle because SA wasn’t yet among the countries the Health Ministry had identified as high risk.
Nakiwala says she didn’t stop at that but also ensured her man Kiyingi self-quarantined himself at their home for 14 days whereafter he subjected himself to being tested and results indicated he was COVID-negative. Nakiwala, who is new to the high-level intrigue politics veterans play in the ruling NRM establishment because she is a recent defector from DP, adds that she verified with Premier Ruhakana Rugunda who assured her that having himself tested was all Mr. Deo Kiyingi had to do.
She implies in the end, she wasn’t satisfied with the circumstances under which she found herself isolated and locked out of cabinet meetings (See https://mulengeranews.com/dont-bring-your-coronavirus-here-total-chaos-as-scared-m7-chases-two-top-ministers-from-monday-cabinet-meeting/; https://mulengeranews.com/covid-19-paralyzes-cabinet-yet-again-as-top-ministers-fear-sitting-near-molly-kamukama-eng-byabagambi/) without Aceng, who knows the whole story, coming to her rescue as the line Minister concerned. Nakiwala also denies ever using her clout as a Minister to shield her husband against mandatory quarantining as imposed by Aceng’s MoH.
These shocking Nakiwala revelations come only days after Sarah Opendi, who was equally kept away from cabinet under similar circumstances, used the floor of Parliament to explain herself telling the Speaker that as of Sunday 15th when her boyfriend (Atkins Katushabe) returned to Uganda, there was no mandatory quarantine for him to have required her backing to defy. That there is no way her man can be accused of circumventing restrictions that weren’t yet in place at the time of his return to the country. That all this notwithstanding, they were subsequently advised and Mr. Katushabe underwent self-quarantine for 14 days whereafter he was tested and result showed negative. That the entire family, including herself, subsequently tested and the results were equally negative.
The very assertive Minister from Tororo says she is being targeted by intriguers who are unhappy with her resolve to pacify the gold mining sector especially in the Mubende neighborhoods. She is also reluctant to rule out old personal feuds with Dr. Aceng which began years ago when she still served as State Minister at Health under Aceng. The two ladies sharply disagreed on work-related matters, a mischief Museveni cured by transferring Opendi to Energy and bringing in more cordial Robinah Nabanja to replace her in the most recent Cabinet reshuffle.
Dr. Aceng, whose professionalism many citizens have publicly praised on social media, denies victimizing anybody and says the circumstances of her return from trips abroad at the start of March shouldn’t be distorted by people desirous to explain away their own mess.
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