How do you tell that it is time to move on
Apr 30, 2013
When one falls in love and starts a relationship, there are two possible outcomes; either the relationship flourishes or it fails, ending in separation or divorce.
When one falls in love and starts a relationship, there are two possible outcomes; either the relationship flourishes or it fails, ending in separation or divorce. People who have separated say they did so after realising that it was inevitable. David Katuwa and MP Betty Amongi spoke to Stella Nassuna
David Katuwa, an entrepreneur, who separated with his wife, Rose Nankumba, says he knew it was time to end the relationship when all the intervention measures, such as counselling, involving relatives and the clan, failed to keep them together.
MP Betty Amongi also experienced an abusive marriage before finding love again with fellow MP Jimmy Akena. Amongi recently introduced Akena to her family.
During a phone interview, Amongi said: “I decided to get out of my marriage when my former husband attempted to take my life. He hired a gunman to shoot me.
“My misunderstanding with my former husband, who lives in the US, started in 2005, three years after our marriage. This was when I told him I wanted to join politics. When he came back to Kampala during the Christmas holidays that year, we had a big argument about the issue.
He said since he married me, he had power over me and, therefore, I should not pursue politics. He added that if I persisted, our marriage would be over.”
Amongi adds that she continued to pursue her political ambition and when her husband learnt about it, he became controlling.
“When he was not in the country, he would tell his brother to monitor my moves. He even told me not to go anywhere without his brother,” she adds.
Amongi, who has an eight-year-old son with her former husband, advises women not stay in abusive marriages because of the children. She says if they got killed, another woman would come in and one cannot be sure how she would treat the children.
Amongi advises women who have stayed in abusive relationships for the sake of the children to walk out when still alive and fight for the children by pleading for custody through the law.