Prison series: My husband left me when I was imprisoned

Aug 09, 2012

When we went to interview Catherine Namaganda at Luzira Women Prison, we had to first wait because she was teaching the S6 class Economics. “I didn’t know I was good at teaching. I have realised that I am better as a teacher,”

By Charles Etukuri

When we went to interview Catherine Namaganda at Luzira Women Prison, we had to first wait because she was teaching the S6 class Economics. “I didn’t know I was good at teaching. I have realised that I am better as a teacher,” she says.

In Prison, she is one of the prison leaders and is a Kattikiro (ward leader). “On a good day I usually wake up in the morning and start  by allocating the prisoners their daily chores. I then leave my ward and go to the Primary section where I teach the P.6 and P.7 classes. 

“In the afternoons I go back to the ward to monitor how the works I had allocated have been handled. I counsel some of the prisoners who have problems and solve some of them. For the cases that I cannot solve, I usually forward them to the Prison administration.”

“I am also a paralegal agent and I have been trained on how to sensitise some of the prisoners who don’t know the court procedure, on how to represent themselves in court, the procedures of getting bail among others.”

It was while she was in prison that she received salvation and realised that God was the most important thing in ones life. “I pray everyday and ask God to soften the hearts of the people I offended so that they can forgive me.”

What really happened
Just after finishing her bachelor’s degree from the University, Namaganda landed her self a good juicy job with Child International a prominent international Non-Governmental Organisation in the country as the project accountant.

“I was in charge of the finances of the company,” she told Sunday Vision from Luzira Women Prison, where she is serving a three-year-sentence for embezzlement.

At first she handled her job well and soon the firm started trusting her with large volumes of money. But as fate would have it, the more she handled the money, the stronger the desire she had to divert it. 

Namaganda was overwhelmed and finally evil took the better of her. “I found myself diverting money to my personal use.”

At first she was afraid that she would be found out but when she saw that nobody noticed, she continued to do it. By the time the firm discovered the anomaly in the books of accounts, Namaganda had embezzled over sh60m.

She was eventually arrested and charged at the Anti-Corruption Court and sentenced to three and a half years and a half. She has nearly served her sentence and could be leaving the prison within the next two months.

First week in prison
“I started crying when I entered prison. I knew I was going to be locked away for the next three years.”

Her transformation
Today, she says she is a changed person and that her prison ordeal has been life changing.  “Much as I am in confinement, it has given me time to think about myself, re-evaluate myself and I have realised my purpose in life.” 

Reflecting on her life outside prison, she says that at certain times she thought she owned the whole world. But now I have realised that in life everything is not about me but the community I live in. I have learnt to be sensitive to the others too.”

She is also grateful that she was sentenced and kept in prison because she lost four of her best friends in the Lugogo bomb blast. “They were my best friends and we would always hang out together and if I was outside as a free person I know I would have gone out with them.”

Apart from teaching, Namaganda has also learnt how to make crafts and today she can weave a mat, basket, make beads and many other craft items. Above all she has also learnt how to dig. “I am looking forward to going to the village to dig for my mother,” she says.

She said when she was arrested and brought to prison her first fear was her losing her husband and true to her fears, the moment she was convicted, a man she dearly regarded as somebody who would stand in for her, walked out of her life.

“He just walked away from me and has never come to see me despite the fact that I am told he stays in Kampala.” She is all praise for her mother who she says has really stood by her.

Her biggest worry, however, was how her mother would react to her imprisonment. “My mother was ageing and I was her right hand person when I was out.”

Namaganda says she knew what she had done was wrong and when the Police came to arrest her she did not run away, but handed herself over to them.

When she was arrested, she was pregnant and gave birth while in prison. “My mother took away my son and sometimes she comes with him to visit me. I was so saddened when they brought him for the first time and he rejected me. I felt so sad.”

She says she is grateful to the prison authorities especially the Officer in Charge of the Women Prison Nabunya Stella who she says has been a parent to her.

Plans for out of Prison
She says after her release, she intends to stay in the country for one month and thereafter gtravel for her masters.

Because of the love her mother has shown her, she promises to work very hard and make sure that she get the best. 

Her biggest lessons which she wants to share with the others is to always cut their coats according to their clothes. “I have learnt that we should all be honest in the way we do our work, work hard and stop wishful thinking.” She is urges well wishers to support the prison attempt to offer education to the inmates so that they can become reformed citizens.

She says if she is given a second chance the first thing she would do is to try as much as possible to change and make right her mistakes. 

 

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