IT WAS A MIRACLE! Museveni Reveals How He Met Janet

KAMPALA, Uganda — For more than five decades, Uganda’s President, Yoweri Museveni, has largely spoken publicly about war, politics and revolution. But on Tuesday, as his wife, Janet Museveni, celebrated her 78th birthday, the veteran leader offered a deeply personal account of what he described as a “miraculous” encounter that changed the course of his life.

In a lengthy birthday tribute, Museveni reflected on the twists of history, exile and armed struggle that ultimately led him back to the woman he would marry in 1973 and with whom he has now shared more than 50 years of marriage.

“Today, the 24th of June is Maama’s birthday having arrived on Earth on this very day 78 years ago,” Museveni wrote.

“The family and myself thank God for having given us Maama, kept her safe in the years of orphanhood having lost her Father, Mzee Edward Kataaha, in 1955 and prospering her in the subsequent years up to today.”

The tribute offered a rare glimpse into the personal history of one of Africa’s longest-serving presidential couples.

Janet Kataaha Museveni was born in Ntungamo in western Uganda and attended Kyamate School, where she first crossed paths with Museveni as a young student.

But the upheavals that followed Uganda’s post-independence political turmoil pulled them onto separate paths.

According to the President, it would take years — and what he now regards as divine intervention — for their paths to cross again.

“In Particular, I thank God for the miraculous re-connection with her on Christmas day, 1972, outside the Inter-Continental Hotel in Nairobi,” Museveni said.

“Although we were from the same area of Ntungamo and had studied at Kyamate together in 1958, we had got disconnected by the troubled history of Uganda.”

At the time, Museveni was living a dangerous life in exile.

The future president was involved in armed efforts to overthrow the military dictatorship of Idi Amin after Amin seized power in a coup in January 1971.

“Since January, 1971, we had been operating from Tanzania fighting Idi Amin,” Museveni recalled.

He went on to describe one of the most difficult moments of that campaign.

“I had, indeed, been involved in the disastrous battle of the 17th of September, 1972 in Mbarara where out of 330 People that attacked on that axis, on account of not being trained, by evening I had managed to take back only 46 including an Obote fighter known as Ageta, a good but chaotic fighter.”

The defeat left the anti-Amin fighters regrouping and planning another operation.

Museveni said he was preparing fresh efforts against the regime when fate intervened.

“I was now on the way to launch another effort of fighting Amin using the 100 rifles we had already infiltrated into Uganda,” he wrote before arriving at the moment that would alter his private life forever.

“This is where God’s miracle came in.”

“We had just parked in the Inter-Continental car-park, when I saw the Kazzoras, including Maama, entering their cars after they had had lunch at the hotel.”

Museveni said he immediately approached the group.

“I got out of our car and greeted them. Mr. Kazzora and his wife did not know me but Maama Janet and Maama Jennifer Kutesa, knew me from the Ntungamo-Kyamate days.”

The encounter would soon blossom into a relationship that survived exile, war and the burdens of state power.

“Without going into details, it is that accidental and miraculous re-connection that enabled me to have a family even when I was still in the risky life of exile and, the Resistance,” Museveni wrote.

“Praised be the Lord.”

The couple married on August 24, 1973, at Turnham Green Church in London.

According to previously published accounts, the wedding was modest and took place while the young couple was living far from home and with limited resources.

Their marriage endured years of uncertainty.

When Museveni launched a guerrilla war against the government of Milton Obote in 1981, Janet spent long periods caring for their young family while living in exile.

She later recounted that she moved between Kenya and Sweden as the conflict unfolded.

In his birthday message, Museveni credited his wife with holding the family together during those turbulent years.

“Maama has done great things in the family, especially caring for the children during the 2nd phase of the Resistance between 1981 to 1986 when she was alone in exile and I was in the bush.”

The couple would eventually raise four children — Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, Natasha Karugire, Patience Rwabwogo and Diana Kamuntu — and today count numerous grandchildren among their descendants.

Museveni has previously Revealed His Children’s Nick Names and What Happened on Their Birth Dates. See Details HERE.

Reflecting on that legacy, Museveni wrote with characteristic humor: “It is that miraculous re-connection, that gave me a family of 4 great children and fifteen grandchildren and I am now threatening to have great grandchildren (Abaijukuriza).”

Over the years, Janet Museveni has built a public profile of her own. She founded the Uganda Women’s Effort to Save Orphans (UWESO), served as a Member of Parliament, held ministerial portfolios and currently serves as Minister of Education and Sports.

Her husband praised those contributions in glowing terms.

“She has been a great philanthropist with UWESO and she has contributed to the NRM politics in Ntungamo on top of her religious work.”

In August 2023, the couple celebrated their golden jubilee, marking 50 years of marriage with a thanksgiving service attended by family, church leaders and senior government officials.

During those celebrations, Museveni described marriage and family as the foundation of human continuity and repeatedly thanked Janet for her companionship through decades of struggle and leadership.

Even now, after more than half a century together, the President says he is still looking ahead.

“I pray to God to get us to 100 years respectively so that we, among the other good things, see the birth of the East African Federation which is the Insurance of Africa against any future domination or marginalization.”

For a leader whose life story is often told through battles, elections and political movements, Tuesday’s tribute revealed another narrative — one centered on coincidence, faith and enduring companionship.

And in Museveni’s telling, it all began in a Nairobi hotel parking lot on Christmas Day in 1972.

A chance meeting.

A reunion.

“A miraculous re-connection.”

Meanwhile, you can read about what Winnie Byanyima said about her past love relationship with Museveni Here and There.

Relatedly, you can read Museveni’s update on Janet Museveni’s health condition, as he revealed how Satan attacked the first lady, as reported Here.