Woman admits affair with Vice President

By Fortunate Ahimbisibwe

REVELATIONS of the Vice-President’s extra-marital affairs, reported in the tabloid press, reached a climax yesterday when the woman in the middle of the controversy came out publicly to admit she has been having a relationship with Prof. Gilbert Bukenya.

Addressing a press conference at the Speke Hotel together with her former husband, Jamilah Nakku, a private secretary in the Office of the President, denied that the Vice-President ‘stole’ her from her husband, as had been reported in The Red Pepper.

“It is not true that I was snatched from my ex-husband. The truth is that by the time I started seeing Prof, Bukenya, I had already filed for divorce and we had reached an understanding that things could not work out for us,” she said.

“So Prof. Bukenya did not snatch anybody’s wife. He found me when I was free and leading a separate life… He did not force me. We agreed to be together. We took our decision because I was not engaged to anyone. I am a free woman, currently involved with one man.”

Vice-President Bukenya, 58, a staunch Catholic, is married to Dr. Margaret Bukenya, a doctor at Mulago Hospital. The couple has three children.

Nakku’s former husband, Wakiso town clerk Uthman Sebaduka, confirmed that the two started going out after he and his wife had divorced.

“I don’t care which man she got. I did not say the Vice-President snatched my wife. I only said after we separated, she got involved with the Vice-President. But by that time, we had already parted.”
He explained that the Vice-President’s name came up in the petition for divorce for another reason.

“I want to make it clear that I did not sue Bukenya for taking my wife,” he said. “I only mentioned him in my petition because I could not allow my property to be shared with my ex-wife since I got reports that she was now having a relationship with the vice-president.”

Nakku told journalists that she met Prof. Bukenya in December 2003, months after she had divorced. A former employee of Wakiso Town Council, she said she resigned after getting threats from Wakiso LC5 chairman, Ian Kyeyune.

“After resigning from Wakiso, I went to the Vice-President and told him my situation as the area MP and as a political leader in the district. He offered me a job at his radio station. In 2005, I got a job in the President’s Office as a private secretary for literary affairs,” she said.

Nakku accused the media of trying to tarnish the Vice-President’s name.
“The reports going around are not true that men are conflicting over Jamilah. They want to ruin the Vice-President. They want to destroy him. Jamilah was not stolen, she was found free.”

She dismissed claims that she also had an affair with the Wakiso LC5 chairman.
“Kyeyune has also been claiming that I am his wife but that is not true. Has he ever come to my parents’ place for any ceremony, even an introduction? Let them leave Prof. Bukenya alone and stop damaging our image.”

The press conference was attended by Ssebaduka’s father, Yunusu Kyobe, and his brother Ahmed Sentamu.

The Vice-President could not be reached for comment. His press secretary, Linda Nabusayi, rubbished Nakku’s allegations.

“Nakku works with the President’s Office. But if she says the Vice-President is her man, then she is masquerading. Why does she want to ruin people’s marriages?” she said.