Face-to-face with Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni

With all the security measures in place, we were guided to where the interview is to be set up. First things first, the architecture of the Ugandan State House, Entebbe is similar to Kenya's State House in Nairobi but massive in terms of size.

Before shifting to State House, Entebbe, president Museveni used to reside at Nakasero State House, in Kampala. This made traffic in the city centre a nightmare.

We get to an area that has two tents. One of the tents has one seat, which looked like a presidential seat while the other one has many seats. It is here then that we are made to understand that President Yoweri Museveni maintains social distance even with his cabinet and the discussion happens with speakers around the tents.

This was also supposed to be our setup but a few minutes later, we are informed that the setup has to be changed. So we are taken to a very open area, under a tree and the team tells us that President Museveni loves nature and likes to be in natural settings or open spaces.

As a Covid-19 precaution, the president also seats far from the journalist doing the interview. It definitely seemed a bit odd to me but again it is his State House.

So we set up to meet the presidential team, including his Private Secretary Dr Kenneth Omona, who granted my interview request before coming to Uganda.

It was lovely. After 1pm, as we are patiently waiting for the president to arrive, I see him and a few of his security detail walking from a distance with his signature white shirt and grey trousers and open shoes.