Museveni coordinated Ugandan revolution, met wife and schooled children in Kenya

Yoweri Museveni may have gone to the University of Dar-es-Salaam for his undergraduate studies in Political Science but Nairobi holds some great memories for the Ugandan president. Born in 1944, he got his name from the Seventh Battalion of King's African Rifles, which was returning home from WWII, hence "Museveni". Museveni lived longer in Tanzania than Kenya but Nairobi was the regional hub. The Ugandan elite and middle class fled to Nairobi as refugees when Amin became hostile. This forced Museveni to visit Nairobi often to keep abreast of developments with his comrades. He moved his family to Nairobi proper when he began the bush war in 1981. In 1971, James Wamalawa, a Bukusu from Bungoma who died early this year saved Museveni's life. James took advantage of the presence of Bukusus in Kenya and Uganda to join the Uganda colonial police in 1957 where he served until 1985. Wamalwa was a Special Branch officer at Bumbo Police Post in eastern Uganda where he interrogated Museveni and two others after they were arrested for subversion activities. He definitely knew their intentions but chose to look the other way and release the young men. Museveni's favourite Kenyan TV station Unlikely romance Museveni met his wife Janet at Hilton Hotel in 1972. He came to Nairobi to meet John Kazzora, a Kampala lawyer and Janet's cousin. Kazzora was the Ugandan version of Charles Njonjo, more a Briton than most Britons. Museveni was interested in his British contacts despite their perceived ideological differences. Kazzora left for Britain and left Janet in Nairobi as his liaison with Museveni who hailed from her village. The liaison led to marriage in 1973. Museveni then moved with her to Dar-es-Salaam. From Tanzania, Museveni set out to recruit Ugandans into his Front for National Salvation (FRONASA). From his base in Moshi, he would go to Arusha to call Kampala and Nairobi and arrange for meetings. Their code for Jinja was Arusha and Nairobi was Mbarara. He acquired the code name Mzee Kassim and posed as a cross-border trader when coming to Nairobi. Most Ugandans had gone into cross-border smuggling to survive so it was easy to evade scrutiny. In October 1978, Nyerere made his famous "Nia, Uwezo and Sababu" speech at the merger of TANU and Afro-Shirazi Party to form CCM. Amin had invaded the Kagera area of Tanzania and Mwalimu was calling on Tanzanians to get rid of Amin once and for all. Museveni was happy that Amin had played into their hands, and Nyerere had scores to settle because Amin deposed his friend Obote. He brought copies of the speech to Nairobi and landed at Hilton Hotel where he distributed them to Ugandan exiles. The Kenyan police got wind of him and sent none other than the dreaded Patrick Shaw to arrest him. Museveni was taking coffee with a friend at the Hilton lobby when he saw a European man looking at him over a newspaper that he was pretending to be reading. He asked his friend who that man was and upon hearing it was Shaw, quickly devised a plan to escape. He asked for more coffee then opened a newspaper to read while keeping an eye on Shaw. He rose as if going to the loo but left the hotel and took a taxi to Serena Hotel. He then jumped onto another taxi to country bus station where he took a matatu to Namanga. Shaw arrested his friend and interrogated him for four days before releasing him. Bush fighting In January 1980 after the fallout in the government that replaced Amin, Museveni decided to go to the bush to fight Obote II. First order of business was to smuggle his family to Nairobi in February 1981. He set up Janet and his four children in Shauri Moyo estate in Nairobi's Eastlands. On June, 6, 1981, Museveni left Uganda by boat for Kenya en-route to Libya. They left at night for Kisumu in a wooden motor boat. They landed in Homabay thinking it was Kisumu before finding their way to Kisumu at 6 am two days later. Amama Mbabazi and Sam Katarabwa welcomed them in Kisumu and took them to Nairobi. The corrupt Kenya police took their boat and they never saw it again. In Nairobi, he met Jeremiah Kiereini and cabinet minister G.G. Kariuki as he waited to depart for Tripoli. He spent a week with his family. Meanwhile, his son, Muhoozi, enrolled at Mt Kenya Academy and daughter, Natasha at Moi Nyeri Complex Primary School. She was in the school for two terms in 1982 before being smuggled out one night because Museveni feared Obote men wanted to kidnap her and use her to force Museveni to surrender. She left her belongings in the school and the family left for Sweden. While in Nairobi, he formed National Resistance Movement in Kabete at the house of Ugandan Chris Mboijana. Former Uganda president Yusuf Lule's Uganda Freedom Fighters (UFF) signed a memorandum with the People's Resistance Army (PRA) of Museveni to form NRM. Lule became chairman and Museveni vice chairman and army commander. In his biography, long-time president Moi spokesman Lee Njiru tells of how Museveni often used State House Nairobi telephone to coordinate his operations while leading the insurgency to take over Kampala. Moi referred to him as Uganda's future president.

Museveni coordinated Ugandan revolution, met wife and schooled children in Kenya

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Museveni coordinated Ugandan revolution, met wife and schooled children in Kenya

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