By Mulengera Reporters
On Wednesday, Vice President Jessica Alupo represented her boss Gen YK Museveni to open the Road Safety Conference 2025 which was held at Speke Resort Munyonyo. The event is organized annually to coincide with the UN Global Road Safety Week.
Themed “Road Safety for Socio-Economic Transformation,” the day’s event was held at Speke Resort Munyonyo and was organized by the Ministry of Works & Transport in close collaboration with a group of CSOs coalescing under the umbrella of Road Safety Advocacy Coalition Uganda (ROSACU).
Some of the speakers at the conference included Works PS Waisswa Baligeya, Minister Katumba Wamala, Commissioner Transport, Road Regulation & Safety Winstone Katushabe, activist Richard Baguma (also a veteran journalist), training manager Owen Muhumuza who represented the Integrated Transport Management System (ITMS) which is charged with issuing the new digital number plates for all vehicles, ROSACU Chairman Fred Tumwine, youth representative Oliver Nalwadda and Iki-Iki County MP (in Budaka) Robert Kasolo who chairs the Parliamentary Forum on Road Safety.
Alupo gave her own off-the-cuff comments before reading out the written speech in which the President thanked the Works Ministry for working so well with the CSOs and promised to become more deliberate about funding road safety initiatives.
She reflected on the fact that the conference was being hosted at Speke Resort Munyonyo not very far from the accident scene where Rajiv crushed to death. She said this was a very painful reality and made the road conference an emotional thing for her to be presiding over.
Alupo referenced on the other fatal accidents Uganda has witnessed recently including that of YY Coaches and concluded that the road safety conference couldn’t have been held at a better time.
She then proceeded to share her own personal experiences on the Rajiv she knew. Saying Rajiv, who died 35 years, was an “outstanding boy,” Alupo recalled how Sudhir Ruparelia’s son sent to her a text message on her phone towards the end of 2015 as she prepared to go launch her campaigns for reelection as Katakwi Woman MP.
“I’m one person who will require money for my campaigns and have the need to fundraise but I won’t go out of my way asking for contributions.” She added that Rajiv knew that naturally politicians like her be in need of such money and on his own volition organized Shs10m which was delivered to her, without ever asking for it. She said this was a campaign contribution which she greatly appreciated.
At that time, she was Minister of Education and she recalled Rajiv attending several meetings with other stakeholders in education at her office. He was as of that time overseeing Victoria University and schools that fall under the Ruparelia Group. She said Rajiv would once in a time send her text messages as Minister seeking clarification on things and he was always respectful in his text messages.
Alupo, who isn’t very good at looking out for her friends perhaps fearing to be misunderstood, went on to explain that Rajiv kept and never lost or deleted her phone number even after she had lost her Katakwi Woman MP Seat in 2016 to Violet Akurut Adome. She subsequently lost even her Ministerial position as Museveni replaced her with his own wife Janet Kataha.
A politically vanquished Alupo retreated upcountry and for those five years of grassing and economic misery. And she told the conference at Munyonyo that during those difficult five years, Rajiv was one of the old friends who endeavored to keep in touch supporting her generously. “All along through those five years of outside Parliament, he would send me fuel” every now and then. By fuel, Alupo was understood to be referring to money sent through mobile money means.
Making it clear that good as he was, Rajiv was now gone and there was nothing anyone could do about it apart from just learning from the road safety-related circumstances of his death, Alupo urged members of the audience to stand up and observe a moment of silence in honor of Rajiv whose father Dr. Sudhir owns the Munyonyo Speke Resort facility where the Road Safety Conference was held. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
