Ex-minister Matembe asks experts to rescue failing marriages

KAMPALA - If there is a topic that dominated public conversation online this week, it is the state of marriage.

The debate has grown so intense that former Ethics and Integrity Minister Miria Matembe is now questioning why medical counsellors are not investing their time and effort needed to rescue an institution that appears to be under serious threat.

“What are you really doing to educate the people. So that they may know and sort out these kinds of problems. They are very serious issues,” Matembe inquired.

She echoed this on November 28, 2025, during a mental health workshop that preceded the 21st Annual General Meeting (AGM) held at Parliament’s Conference Hall.

Speaking on Friday, Matembe, who, during her active service as a minister, had once floated the castration of rapists, expressed concern about mental disorders that are responsible for the bedroom woes.

“My concern was, now you are the one who knows, do you find opportunity to talk to couples. Because they don’t know. Like you said, these women don’t reach orgasm, and for u,s we are thinking the man is not doing his part. Yeah, don’t laugh,” she said.

“You are there, nothing, and you think the man is not doing his part, kumbe maybe, it is you, and you don’t know that you need to go to the hospital. And maybe some of these men, who you said don’t finish or what, they take long, they think the woman is the one who is weak, and she is tired quickly,” Matembe added.

Stimulants 

Interjecting, former Serere County lawmaker Capt. John Emilly Otekat acknowledged the impact of sexual dysfunctions before asking whether they can be resolved through herbal remedies.

“Sexual dysfunction has caused so many problems in marriages. That’s why when you were talking, I was telling my friend Louis Opange (former Pallisa county MP) and Anthony Yiga (former Kalungu West MP) that we (MPs) also have those problems,” Otekat quipped.

“Mine is you referred all those problems to Butabika. Because I imagine all this majority [here] were all keeping quiet but at least have one of those problems. The whole of Butabika would be full. Can’t Mulondo (Mondia whitei) also work?” raised triggering laughter amongst MPs.

However, he fired back asking colleagues not to laugh saying “it (Mulondo), has kept my family there”.  

Before regretting the impact his words were likely to create given the presence of his daughter.

Mulondo is a climbing white plant with a long, white tuber-like roots which are commonly sold by hawkers at Sh500 per piece.

Negative effects

The danger with using stimulants, Brother Chrysostom said, was that they weigh the body down.

“Alternative medication like the Mulondo be mindful, I am not against these drinks I see coming from my place. I come from Ibanda district and when I watch TV, they talk about all those drinks. When you drink this, you are going to be sober.

Those drinks have chemical substances with a class of drugs which is called stimulants. The stimulants go and make the brain shoot up,” Ahimbisibwe cautioned.

Further warning that these stimulants contain substances similar to crystal meth, a white powder, cocaine and caffeine, which fire up the brain. But unfortunately, that feel-good hype comes with its own negative consequences.

“Shortly after that you will break down. Under normal circumstances, get medical assistance from the trained medical professionals,” he stated.

“Actually, at Health Centre IV, they have psychiatric clinical officers who are medically trained to handle psychiatric cases. If you go to regional hospitals, they have psychiatric doctors, psychologists, they would be able to help you. Butabika is the highest we can refer,” Ahimbisibwe added.

Dangers of alcoholism

Laughable as this conversation might seem, it has contributed to the breaking up of families. Other factors such as domestic violence and economic strife, notwithstanding.

According to official data, divorce rates in Uganda skyrocketed from 215 in 2023 to 503 in 2024, based on the number of cases filed in the Family Division of the High Court.
Previously, a 2020 study by the Hague Institute for Innovation of Law (HiiL) estimated that divorce occurs 370,000 times a year.

Adding that seven per cent of adult Ugandans had gone through divorce of separation in the past four year. While 85 per cent sought legal advice mostly from social media.

Fr. Dr. Richard Kyazze, an expert, says overconsumption of liquor is one of the things that kills a man’s vitality.

“One for those who want to remain men and manly, it (alcohol) kills the engine downstairs. The one between your legs for the men. It does kill once you take for a long time. The first time, it first stands because of the thing, but after some time wheeew,” Kyazze stated.

“Recently, studies that were done in Uganda showed that addiction, over 54 percent of the young people between the age of five and nine had tested alcohol. I mean sipping,” he cited.

Stress

And yet, that is not the only condition affecting former aged patrons. Former Pallisa County MP Louis Opange revealed that some of them are coping with stress.

“We were a group of MPs we were taking our alcohol and one was busy on the phone exchanging words with the wife and we saw the man blacking out. We checked the phone; the messages were terrible. The woman was saying if you have not sent money for Kameza (home upkeep), don’t come back home,” Opange narrated.