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President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has commended First Lady and Minister of Education and Sports Mama Janet Museveni for pioneering clean leadership in Uganda, helping save national resources and setting an example of leadership that should be followed.
Speaking at the First Lady’s 76th anniversary celebrations themed “Celebrating 76 Years of Excellence” at Masurita Children’s Village in Wakiso District on Thursday, June 27, 2024, President Museveni lauded the First Lady for cleaning up the vice of corruption in every place she has worked, citing Karamoja and the Ministry of Education as examples.
“When she came into politics, I did not support her because I thought she was apolitical, but I can attest that she brought in a clean leadership,” said His Excellency Museveni. He cited the example of Karamoja where each local government was given Sh800 million but no tangible results were achieved, including providing water supply to the people.
“She had to wage a war against those groups. Then she came to the Ministry of Education and one of the big battles she had to fight was the battle of furniture. One of your employees was importing furniture from India, imagine! Yet they were local furniture dealers who wanted to sell furniture, she had to fight that war. This time I can testify that when she was in politics, she said God told her and God did use her to do some good things in Karamoja and now in the Ministry of Education,” the President noted.
His Excellency Museveni congratulated the First Lady on her 76th birthday and thanked God for blessing her with a long life, which is beyond the average life expectancy in Uganda.
“Before I came here, I released the census results in Serena which announced that the population of Uganda is now 45.9 million and of course we know that they are living longer now than in 1986 when the average life expectancy was only 43 years. I think that life expectancy has increased now. So when you get to 76, it’s really a great bonus. You go from an average of 63 to another 13 years. I expect you will live to 80. So we thank God for the longevity he has given us,” the President said.
He further congratulated Maama Janet for coming up with the idea of Uganda Women Save Orphans Operation (UWESO) in 1986 without much involvement from him, an idea he said has helped many children, especially orphans. According to President Museveni, the work done by the First Lady at the Masurita Children’s Village through UWESO was to realise the National Resistance Movement’s (NRM) vision of free education which was introduced after the 1996 elections to provide free schooling for poor children through Universal Primary Education (UPE) and later Universal Secondary Education (USE), a concept he has been accusing principals and leaders of killing.
“The whole idea is that Uganda should take care of the children of the poor. Uganda should help them go to school for free, we have been putting money in the budget to pay for education but local leaders, even you MPs, have not followed up on this. In primary schools, we have nearly 11 million children but in all secondary schools, we have 2.6 million children, so you want to know where these 7 million children have gone? They dropped out! Why? Because teachers and parents are charging fees for not implementing the programme,” His Excellency Museveni noted, adding that although they want to use force to implement the programme, they are exercising caution because schools say the funds released are not enough.
He accused teachers and some churches of treating children as a business and making money by having them pay tithes to every child in a particular school.
“Here, mom has proven that free education is possible – you can educate your children for free, but the problem is that some people are greedy. You will find that the principal of the UPE school lets his children go to private school but he does not want to let the poor children go to school for free,” the President said.
General Museveni reminded people of the importance of Masurita in the NRM struggle. On April 4, 1981, NRM members set out overnight from Kikandwa, crossed Lutabaima and camped at Namwandu Nalima’s house in preparation for the attack on Kakiri on April 6, which he said was their first comprehensive victory. Masurita gave us good luck,” he said.
The President also pledged to support the Masurita Children’s Village in purchasing facilities such as a corn mill, which will perform multiple functions, including producing chicken feed for sale in the community. He said this would increase the income of the children’s home and make it sustainable.
Mama Janet, on the other hand, expressed gratitude to God for the wonderful life he had given her, and said that at the age of 76, she had seen God’s mercy even more profoundly.
“First, I want to thank God for the life and time He has given me. He gave me time to gather the blessings of experience and develop empathy. He made me understand the long-term perspective and the eternal hope in the Lord Jesus Christ, which has influenced the value of my time on earth. Therefore, I thank Him because I know that longevity is a blessing that is not given to everyone,” she said, further thanking God for his protection and favor during President Museveni’s time in the liberation struggle.
The First Lady said she must give back to God after keeping them safe during the war and mobilized her fellow women to lend a helping hand to the many children who had nothing.
“When I came back, I thought about what gift I could give to God to bring our family home. I had just been to Luwero and I was taken to a reception centre and the children came out to see who had arrived. They clapped – many of them were half naked, some were completely naked. There were about 50 children and one adult. I took a picture of them and that picture stayed with me when I got home. So, I thought, this is my gift to God, that I will not only take care of my own children but also other children who have not had it easy. I felt that this was something I could do to thank God,” Mama Janet narrated, adding that the meeting she convened at the Kampala Police Centre attracted many like-minded people who raised funds and some offered parts of their homes as office centres to start UWESO.
“I want to tell you that UWESO was not started by me alone. It was the work of all the women, some of whom you just met here. We are all old and faltering now, but back then we were very strong women, young and thank God, willing to do whatever it took to give those children a new lease of life. We always said that wherever there were orphans, the mothers there should start a branch of UWESO so that all mothers could get involved and take responsibility for their area,” explained Mama Janet.
She thanked President Museveni for giving her the freedom to hold office and for always supporting her in her work with partners.
“When God gave us a long life in this world, I believe it was because He had a work for us to do; He wanted us to develop the talents God gave us and use them in His service and be good stewards. So, when God in His wisdom gave me life and placed me in a place of His choosing, I knew He wanted me to accomplish something,” the First Lady said, calling on successful young people to support them and help those who are unable to fend for themselves in society.
On the other hand, the First Daughter, Natasha Museveni Karugire, hailed the First Lady as a fearless and courageous woman who would not give up as long as God was by her side.
“Everywhere Mom went, she was blessed by God, and she shone despite the challenges. She worked quietly and methodically to sow God’s light and radical transformation in every task of her life. Her service was a complete reflection of her relationship with God, and her life was filled with love for Jesus. I saw that she was blessed by God in everything she did,” said Mrs. Natasha.
The Chief Executive Officer of UWESO, Mrs. Jolly Kamugira Kaguhangire, said they not only celebrated the First Lady’s birthday but were also proud of her being the founder of UWESO and her commitment to a dream that has lasted for 38 years.
“I am happy to tell you that UWESO has made a difference in the lives of many children. We have UWESO alumni who are always eager to express their gratitude to you, mum, we have councillors, doctors and one of them is a current employee of UWESO,” Ms Jolly said, adding that UWESO has been a centre for the rehabilitation and resettlement of street children in recent years.
“In January 2024, KCCA rescued over 900 adults and unaccompanied children from the streets of Kampala, all of whom were brought here. It was an unforgettable experience, but UWESO, with the help of our local partners, successfully resettled them back to their hometowns. Some were taken back to school and currently 309 children are studying at Napak Primary School in Karamoja,” she noted, further thanking the First Lady for her dedication, which is the cornerstone of their success.
The Chairperson of the Board of Directors of UWESO, Mrs. Olive Birungi Lumonya, expressed appreciation and gratitude to the First Lady, under whose visionary leadership, UWESO has grown from a humble organization to a formidable force for justice.
“We celebrate a dream come true. Over 50,000 children have come to our children’s home in Masurita and 108,714 children across the country have been supported by UWESO. We also celebrate the positive impact UWESO has had on community development in this country,” said Ms Bilongi.
The ceremony was attended by ministers, members of the diplomatic corps, members of parliament, senior government officials, friends from the business and private sectors, local leaders and UWESO family members.
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