By Brenda Twinomugisha
Florence Nakiwala Kiyingi, Sarah Opendi and Betty Amongin are all relatively young female ministers in the cabinet of President Yoweri Museveni. Yet there is much more they have in common as we shall briefly unveil in this weekend feature.
NAKIWALA KIYINGI: Museveni’s Minister of Youth & Children Affairs previously belonged to opposition DP and was also minister in Kabaka’s government. She is beautiful and combative which partly explains why haters invest in making her misunderstood. In her 40s, Nakiwala is a devout Catholic and married to Bukomansimbi MP Deogratias Kiyingi, a diehard DP supporter. They have children together and divergent political belonging isn’t known to have created any cracks in their marriage union as they have continued to comfortably live together as husband and wife. Nakiwala is also flamboyant and inspires many young people.
BETTY AMONGIN: Museveni’s Minister of Lands previously belonged to opposition just like Nakiwala and they were appointed to cabinet on the same day mid-2016. Whereas Nakiwala is perceived to be strong in Buganda sub region because of her history at Mengo and personal closeness to the Kabaka, Amongin partly derives her political strength from marrying in the Obote family which is a big factor in her native Lango sub region.
She is a bigger hustler and politically more sophisticated than her husband Jimmy Akena just like Nakiwala is more versatile (on both political and economic deals) than her husband Deo Kiyingi. Just like in Nakiwala’s case, Amongin is married to a strong opposition MP Akena who is also the President for opposition Uganda People’s Congress (UPC), an old independence party just like Deo Kiyingi’s DP.
She serves in the NRM cabinet and Akena in the UPC cabinet but that has never complicated their marriage relationship-at least according to what is publicly known. Akena is a liberal-minded opposition MP and never participates in riotous anti-Museveni situations just like Deo Kiyingi. The two are equally strong contenders for their respective MP positions with nobody so far known to pose any serious threat to them for 2021.
Besides politics, Amongin has personal businesses (including money lending and the real estate company-AMOBET). The same applies to Nakiwala Kiyingi who is the proprietor for Lisa medical center which operates very lucrative medical insurance business. They have both had the opportunity to publicly introduce their respective spouses to the President.
SARAH OPENDI: Museveni’s state minister of Health doubles as Tororo Woman MP and she is also as assertive as Amongin and Nakiwala. The promoters of DP reunion caravan claim she at some point belonged to their UYD implying she previously professed opposition politics. She is an eloquent charismatic speaker just like Amongin and Nakiwala.
At 50, she can also be said to be relatively young in a cabinet comprising of many elderly politicians. Being married to an opposition diehard MP is another credential Opendi shares with Amongin and Nakiwala. And the lucky dude is none other than Bukonzo West MP Atkins Katusabe who had the opportunity to be officially unveiled to the President during his Thursday wealth creation mobilization tour of Kasese.
Opendi, previously a single mother of one secondary school-going child, traditionally introduced and got married to Katusabe during a ceremony at her parents’ home in Tororo. That day, Katusabe generously paid dowry and testified about Opendi’s sweetness. It was a private ceremony graced by very few trusted friends and relatives. Since then, the two now live as husband and wife. A close friend says they both take offence if anyone refers to theirs as mere girl/boyfriend relationship.
They equally resent hearing anything about a Makerere female professor that claims previous marriage union with Atkins. Some time back, Atkin’s mother died and Opendi (acting responsibly) posted on the Ministry of Health whatsapp forum announcing the death of her mother-in-law. Indeed in Kasese during the funeral, she addressed mourners thanking them for the solidarity they extended to the family through the bereavement period.
And just like in the case of Nakiwala and Amongin (the other two Museveni Ministers romantically sharing with opposition MPs), Opendi happens to be politically more sophisticated and more shrewd than him. In fact that’s why there are fears in FDC that the very combative ruling party Minister and MP might in the end cause Atkins to quit opposition for NRM. This is the context in which his FDC colleagues have chosen to understand his decision to participate in Museveni’s last Thursday Kasese visit. Pundits at Najjanankumbi are so far treating as something Atkins was naively led into by his politically very shrewd spouse. Indeed while there, Opendi ensured all the haters got to see she had comfortably taken her place in the heart of Atkins who is also known as the legislator with the hardest American accent in the 10th Parliament. Opendi’s friends dismiss claims that the man has fake accent. To them, Atkins is genuinely endowed with American accent having stayed and worked in the US for so many years.
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