If anyone wants a slice of the intimate life of the Museveni family, his wife’s autobiography delivers it
I have spent eight months trying to shape my views on Mrs. Janet Museveni’s autobiography, My Life’s Journey.
An autobiography is an attempt to tell others that: “This is who I
am” or “This is how I see myself” and “This is how I want you to see
me.” So it is an intimate self examination. Then of course, the
challenge is how much to reveal about oneself – your triumphs and
setbacks, aspirations and frustrations. In My Life’s Journey, I felt Mrs. Museveni did this with much greater success than most people would.
In this
intimate tale of trials and tribulations, triumphs and frustrations,
Mrs. Museveni is open and candid about their personal circumstances. She
writes about days when they lived in a small hotel room, unable to pay
bills; how they shifted into an apartment without curtains or
electricity; and the moments when she worried about their next meal. She
once travels from Dar Es Salam to Nairobi looking for a job to
supplement their family income. She is full of gratitude to friends and
family who helped them when they needed it most.
The story
also reveals Yoweri Museveni, the person. Mrs. Msueveni describes the
young Museveni: “He dressed very badly, always wearing mismatched
shirts, trousers and boots. He was prone to wear red undershirts and
then cover them with another coloured short-sleeved shirt, khaki
trousers and black boots with colourful socks. Even though his dress was
horrendous, he was always very clean which he still is to this day.”
When she
begins her courtship with Museveni, Janet Kataha had just lost her
mother, after also losing her only brother four years earlier. “I felt
alone in the world and I did not know what to believe in any more,” she
writes in what I felt was a revealing testimony. “When Yoweri entered
my life he had such a calm certainty of character, as if there was a
secret he was not telling… Yoweri has always possessed that quality, a
steadfast indefatigable character. No matter what came against him, he
would stay standing. He seemed so sure of his purpose and direction that
nothing could bother him.”
Mrs. Museveni often lived in the homes of her relatives; some lived in her home. In My Life’s Journey,
she is full of praise for her relatives and friends; tales of
affection and generosity. Many people who have lived with relatives
tell of abuse and mistreatment. One may suspect there must have been
such moments and feelings in her experience with relatives too. Yet
there is not a single criticism of those who opened their homes for her
to live in. Why does she ignore them? What does this reveal about her
character? This positive attitude goes to her assessment of all the
friends and people she has lived or worked with.
There are
episodes in the book where Mrs. Museveni reveals what she never
intended – like her chance encounter with President Idi Amin in a
restaurant in Masaka. She was having lunch with a friend when Amin
walks in for lunch too – unannounced. He sits on a table a few feet
from them. The young Janet Kataha walks over to him and introduces
herself. Amin extends his hand and greets her too. Her commentary about
Amin in regard to this incident is inconsistent with the ordinary
lifestyle of this dictator. She proceeds to say that greeting Amin
posed a danger to her.
Throughout
most of the book, Museveni’s political struggles keep him away from
his family. For example, in May 1978, he travels to Mozambique to join
FRONASA recruits for training a day after his wife has given birth to
their third child, Patience. This becomes worse when he is in the bushes
of Luwero and the family are living as exiles in Sweden. Indeed, when
Museveni went to visit his family in Sweden in 1985, their first
daughter Natasha opened the door and immediately ran back into the house
saying: “Mummy, there is a man at the door who says he is my father…”
The book
makes intriguing comments on the failures of Uganda without the author
making clear who she is blaming them on. For example, she criticises the
Uganda education system for being outdated and concerned with topics
irrelevant to Uganda’s needs. When she went to campaign for Parliament
she realised that politicians win elections by bribing voters. When she
became State Minister for Karamoja, she found that government has been
pumping money into the region without anything to show for it. Her
comments on the state of our healthcare system are as critical as those
any opposition politician would make. And yet she still believes that
her husband’s administration has been a very successful one.
And then
one has to worry about Mrs. Museveni the politician for she couches her
politics in the language of religion. For instance, her decision to run
for parliament itself, she tells us, was an instruction from God. Then
one has to ask themselves: If the first lady’s views in politics are
guided by divine intervention, how can we mere mortals disagree with
her? Would disagreement tantamount to opposing the almighty? In spite of
these questions, My Life’s Journey is a must-read for anyone
desirous to know the personal experiences of the Museveni’s and perhaps
how those experiences have shaped their view of Uganda and its
politics.
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