Museveni speaks at wife Janet's 76th birthday

Museveni said he was happy with the work that Janet did in the cabinet, adding, however, that he was initially not comfortable with her joining politics.

“When she joined politics I never supported it,” Museveni remarked yesterday.

“We went to Ruhaama and I told her I did not support this because she is not political. Even when we are home, she is always watching American televangelists.”

Museveni and First Lady Janet pulse uganda

Museveni made these remarks at the function held to mark Janet’s 76th birthday.

The event was held at the Masulita Children's Village. The facility is operated by Uganda Women's Effort to Save Orphans (UWESO), an organisation started by Mrs Museveni in 1986.

Janet has served in the cabinet since 2009 as Minister of Karamoja Affairs and later Minister of Education and Sports, a position she still holds today.

Previously she was a member of parliament for Ruhaama in Ntungamo district, where she served for 10 years since 2006.

In his remarks, Museveni said he was impressed but the fight that his wife put up to rid both her ministries of corruption.

“In the Karamoja, the ministry was getting so much money. The districts were getting Shs 800 million for water each year, but there was no water to show for it. She had to start a war of resistance there,” Museveni said.

“When she went to Education, there was a big struggle on furniture because they were importing furniture from India and the officials were not accepting local furniture, so she had to put up another fight there.”

God's calling

Museveni said although he discouraged Janet from joining politics, she insisted that “God had told her to do it.” and that in the end, she did a job.

On her part, Mrs Museveni said she was grateful to God for life and hapy to have collected a lot of experience.