in our Issue 050 of The Independent, only a small list of the president’s relatives in government was mentioned in the story. In this issue, we publish a bigger list of relatives and in-laws around the president or in high government positions.
Gen. Caleb Akandwanaho a.k.a Salim Saleh: He is President Museveni’s younger brother. Saleh is a retired bush war hero who still holds much influence in the military and security. Until last month’s cabinet reshuffle, he had been Minister of State for Micro-finance. He is now a senior presidential advisor on defence.
Janet Kataha Museveni: She is the president’s wife, MP for Ruhaama County and also Minister of State for Karamoja Affairs. She wields a lot of influence among NRM MPs in Parliament. She has recently been stepping out of the shadow of her husband. During the Temangalo land scandal, she demanded Security Minister Amama Mbabazi’s resignation or refund of the Shs11 billion irregularly taken out of NSSF coffers by the Mbabazi group.
Maj. Bright Rwamirama: He is the State Minister for Agriculture in charge of Animal Husbandry, and also MP for Isingiro North. Rwamirama is a cousin to Museveni and although the two had bitter disagreements especially after Museveni ordered his arrest in the early ‘90s on allegations of causing financial loss to the army, they are still close. He was at the time financial controller of the NRA now renamed UPDF. The two have since reconciled. Rwamirama is said to be very rich and wields a lot of influence in Isingiro district.
Shedrack Nzeire: He is Museveni’s step-brother. He is currently involved in youth mobilisation at State House although his docket is not very clear. He contested for the Nyabushozi seat in 2001 parliamentary elections and lost narrowly to Mary Mugyenyi. He has his eyes on it again, come 2011.
Miriam Karugaba: A sister to the president, she is employed as an administrator at State House.
Faith Katana Mirembe: She is a cousin to President Museveni and is also employed as his assistant private secretary in charge of Education and Social Services.
Amelia Kyambadde: She is the Principle Private Secretary (PPS) to the president. The grand-daughter of Maj. Murari Kafureka, a former airforce officer during Amin’s regime, she is related to the president through Sam Kutesa. Her cousin (their mothers are sisters) Albert Muganga marries Kutesa’s daughter Ishta who is a sister to Charlotte Kutesa, the wife of President Museveni’s son Muhoozi.
IN THE MILITARY
Lt. Col. Muhoozi Keinerugaba: He is the president’s eldest son and is currently the commander of Special Forces under the Presidential Guard Brigade. He has gone through accelerated promotions to reach his current rank. His influence in the UPDF is palpable, with officers aligned to him emerging at the helm of the army over the last few years.
Maj. Sabiiti Magyenyi: He is a cousin to President Museveni and hails from Mbarara district. He is currently the overall commander of the elite Presidential Guard Brigade. Sabiiti is said to belong to the young generation of educated professionals who joined the army because of the Muhoozi influence. He abandoned his PhD in Bio-chemistry studies at a UK university to join the army. His star is rising – fast.
Col. Kateera: A cousin of Janet Museveni, he is currently second in command at the Gulu-based 4th Division. Kateera once served in the “lucrative” finance department of the army. He also served as the intelligence officer (IO) in PGB.
Lt. Allan Matsiko: Is the Counter Intelligence Officer at State House. He is a brother to Albert Muganga, Amelia Kyambadde’s cousin, and also husband to Sam Kutesa’s daughter Ishta.
THE IN-LAWS
Maj. Gen. Jim Muhwezi: This bush war hero and Rujumbura MP is an in-law to the Musevenis; his wife Susan is a cousin to Janet Museveni and also acts as the Senga to Museveni daughters. Muhwezi publicly fell out with Museveni over the GAVI and Global Funds money.
Susan Muhwezi: Not only is she wife to the powerful and rich Maj. Gen. Muhwezi, she is the presidential assistant on the African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA), a programme of the US government to encourage African countries to access the American markets. This project is currently under State House, but has terribly failed.
Justus Karuhanga: He is a cousin to Janet Museveni. He is a legal aide to President Museveni. This young man in his early 30s replaced Hussein Kashillingi when the latter left State House after allegations of abuse of office last year.
John Wycliffe Karazaarwe: He is a cousin to Janet Museveni and is the Ntungamo district chief. He has dominated this district since it was carved out of Bushenyi and Mbarara in the early 90s.
Sam Kutesa: Currently minister for Foreign Affairs, Kutesa is the father-in-law to the president’s son Muhoozi and an in-law to President Museveni himself. His late wife Jennifer was a cousin to Janet Museveni.
Brig. Henry Tumukunde: Until recently, Tumukunde enjoyed all the trappings of the family rule. He is married to Stella Tumukunde, a cousin to Janet Museveni. Although he is now not on talking terms with his former boss, pundits say that Tumukunde is under rehabilitation and sooner or later he will bounce back. He once headed the Internal Security Organisation (ISO) and Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI).
Elly Rwakakooko: He is a cousin to Janet Museveni. Rwakakooko was at one time commissioner-general of Uganda Revenue Authority, managing director of Uganda Commercial Bank which was later sold to Stanbic Bank. He was also chairman of UCB. However, he seems to be currently out of favour with the first family; he holds no public job.
Moses Byaruhanga: He is the all-powerful presidential assistant on political affairs. He is married to Janet Museveni’s cousin. Byaruhanga is not a mere presidential assistant but a king maker in this regime. Vice President Prof. Gilbert Bukenya once confessed how it was Byaruhanga who made him what he is today; that all his political fortunes were because of Byaruhanga. Most people who are offered political office in President’s Office or State House, first get Byaruhanga’s endorsement.
Hope Nyakairu: She is a cousin to Janet Museveni and is under-secretary for finance and administration at State House. She is in charge of the money and those who work in State House say she wields more clout than the State House comptroller Richard Muhinda.
Jolly Sabune: She is a cousin to Janet and is the long serving managing director of the Cotton Development Authority. The cotton sector has crumbled under her watch. She is virtually inaccessible by the public, brooches no media interviews and has no apologies for that.
Natasha Museveni Karugire: She is President Museveni’s eldest daughter and is currently a presidential assistant in charge of household at State House, Entebbe.
Dr Joseph Ekwau: The son of Museveni’s sister, Dr Violet Kajubiri, is a presidential advisor on veterinary issues.
Alice Kaboyo. Until recently when she was embroiled in the Global Fund money scandal, she was a presidential assistant in charge of youth in the President’s Office. She is a cousin to Janet Museveni.
Richard Kabonero. He is the elder brother to Bob Kabonero, the Kampala Casino honcho. He is a cousin to Janet Museveni, and currently Uganda’s ambassador to Rwanda.
Jimmy Karugaba: He is husband to the president’s sister Miriam Karugaba (therefore Museveni’s brother-in-law). He is the officer-in-charge (OC) of the accounts department at State House.
IN BUSINESS
Edwin Karugire: He marries Museveni’s eldest daughter Natasha. He is into real estate and handles many government contracts. He handled the sale of former assets of Uganda Railways Corporation and was also part of the legal team privately hired by the State to prosecute FDC president Dr Kizza Besigye in the PRA treason case in 2006. The Karugire team was paid Shs2.5 billion.
Odrek Rwabwogo: He marries Museveni’s second daughter Patience. While he has no clear government appointment, his public relations company, Terp Consult, has got many lucrative contracts from government, the most prominent being the US$1 million ‘Gifted By Nature’ CNN marketing campaign. He also was awarded the 2007 CHOGM communication and publicity contract which he handled with Saatchi & Saatchi company. His wife Patience runs a high class Pentecostal church called Covenant of Apostles of God, at their Buziga home in Kampala.
Geoffrey Kamuntu: He is a son-in-law to Museveni (married to the president’s third daughter Diana) and owns a procurement firm that does consultancy work for the oil explorers in the Albertine region. He is alleged to have key interests in the Heritage Oil Company, one of the companies doing oil exploration in the region. He also benefited from the Butabika Hospital land bonanza (giveaways).
Bob Kabonero: The Kampala Casino proprietor is a cousin to Janet Museveni. Bob has many businesses in the country. He recently won exclusive rights to import dry cell Tiger batteries from China, in effect throwing out any other importer in Uganda. Traders almost went on strike over the deal.
Hannington Karuhanga: He is the chairman of UGACOF, a leading coffee exporting company and a director in Stanbic Bank. He is cousin to Janet Museveni.
Don Nyakairu: He is the corporation secretary of Uganda Telecoms Ltd and marries Janet Museveni’s cousin Hope Nyakairu who is the under-secretary for finance and administration at State House.
Albert Muganga: He is related to the president’s family through marriage. Him and the president’s son Muhoozi marry sisters (Ishta and Charlotte respectively), daughters of Foreign Minister Sam Kutesa. Their mother, the late Jennifer Kutesa, was a cousin of First Lady Janet Museveni. He is in import/export business and in 2008 his company Kenlloyds Logistics was awarded exclusive rights to manage the country’s oil reserves in Jinja. The contract was cancelled after protests from big oil companies like Shell, Caltex and TOTAL.
Jovia Saleh: A wealthy business lady, she is wife to Gen. Salim Saleh, the younger brother to Museveni. She is into real estate and a host of other businesses. She was implicated in the UN Congo Report by the panel of experts investigating the plunder of DR Congo resources.
Kellen Kayonga: She is the younger sister to Jovia Saleh and therefore a sister-in-law to Gen. Saleh. She is an accomplished business lady; she recently won the lucrative deal of exporting security guards to the troubled Iraq through a security company, Askar. There has been a lot of criticism about her deal by many of her employees claiming that her company is creaming off the larger chunk of their earnings leaving them with piecemeal payments at every end of month.
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