I OWE MY LIFE TO HOPE KIVENGERE’S COURAGE — JIM MUHWEZI

By Ambrose Kweronda

www.mknewslink.com

In Kabale—

Security minister Maj. Gen. (Rtd) Jim Muhwezi has said he owes his life to Hope Kivengere’s courage and loyalty.

Kivengere, President Yoweri Museveni’s longest-serving press secretary died at Nakasero Hospital on October 19 and will be laid to rest in Kabale district on Saturday, October 23.

Her funeral service will be held at St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rugarama village, Buhara sub-county in Kabale at 10:00am before her body is lowered into the grave.

Muhwezi, a former bush war fighter, said Kivengere sheltered him at great personal risk during the five-year war that brought them to power in 1986.

“She was willing to risk her life and worse to fight for what she believed in and dedicated her life to her country and its people. She leaves the world a better place than she found it,” he said this Thursday.

“I mourn the loss of my sister, but also the loss of my compatriot and hero. Hope was a principled woman, who fought for truth, justice and freedom,” Muhwezi, who is also the Rujumbura County, tweeted.

Kivengere started out as a teacher, before joining the National Resistance Army/NRM struggle in 1981.

After the war, she worked as the President’s press secretary for 16 years, before moving on to writing his speeches for four years.

She then left the government for the African Mission in Sudan. Her next stop was Somalia, with the African Union Mission in Somalia for five years.

She has also worked with the Intergovernmental Authority on Development and was a member of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa committee of elders, which engages in mediation and election observation.

In an interview in 2019, Kivengere explained how she entered into politics almost by default.

She said she was a lecturer of French at the Institute Public Administration (IPA), which is now Uganda Management Institute when four young men who had delivered arms to the bush were arrested.

“They were detained at Jinja Road Police, right next to IPA, where I had a room. After about three days, they broke out at night. One of them was my cousin, Jim Muhwezi. As they escaped, I think one of them was shot and died on the spot,” she recalled.

“There were gunshots. Jim hid in my room, the other, David Tinyefuza (now David Sejusa), fled. By morning, there were more soldiers around IPA. I disguised him as a woman, he shaved his moustache and I gave him a wig I had never worn. He was wearing a long skirt and a blouse,” Kivengere said.

“The area behind the hostel was clear, so we pushed him through a window on the first floor. A few hours later, I was summoned and detained at Jinja Road Police for about a week, then transferred to Central Police Station. After that, I went to court and was released,” She recollected.

She said every week they had to stamp her slip.

“After three months I went to Kenya, because they were adding some trumped-up charges. In Kenya, I started working with the group. We would support any way we could; receiving the wounded soldiers, doing publicity, mobilising women to support the Movement, funding, any work,” she said.

Sejusa, the former coordinator of intelligence services in the country, on October 20 paid tribute to Kivengere.

“Many times, when we talk about the National Resistance Army (NRA) struggle, people like Hope Kivengere rarely get mentioned! Yet, they forsook and risked a lot for the struggle and their contribution is engraved in stone (blood)!” Sejusa wrote on his Twitter handle on Wednesday, October 20.

The four-star general sent his deepest sympathies to Kivengere’s family.

“Rest in peace, combatant!” Sejusa, who has kept a low profile in recent years only restricting his activities to twitter, prayed.

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