President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni on September 5, 2024 hosted Maama Kemirembe Mutahagarwa and her family at State House, Entebbe. Maama Mutahagarwa was celebrating her 99th birthday.
“I want to congratulate Maama for reaching the age of 99 years,” President Museveni said.
Ms. Mutahagarwa is a wife to the late Mutahagarwa, a Muhaya by tribe who migrated from Tanzania and settled at Nsenyi Ruborogota at a hill called Ntundu in Isingiro district in the 1950s and had established a clinic to treat the local people.
President Museveni said he came to hear about the Mutahagarwas around 1956 while in Ntungamo where his uncle later moved his kraal to the area of Nshenyi Ruborogota.
“Then I had a cousin who used to come back and tell me that there was a doctor called Mutahagarwa and that he was treating them,” H.E Museveni noted.
The President further stated that by 1967 he had qualified to go to the university but because they had half a year before they would report to university, he did some teaching jobs because by that time there was a shortage of teachers.
He was posted as a teacher for some months to Rukoni Church of Uganda school and he had relatives who were living in Karagwe, Isingiro.
“So, on weekends I jumped on my bicycle and cycled from Rukoni to Kikagate and proceeded to Murongo and cross to see my relatives in Tanzania. That’s when I saw their (Mutahagarwas) home on a hill called Ntundu, a very nice home for those days and a banana plantation and a number of times I passed there,” President Museveni noted, adding that in 1971 when Idi amin came into government, he worked with the Tanzanian security system and the army to fight him and while there, he came to know other relatives of Mutahagarwa including the boy who was in the Tanzania Defense Forces (TDF) at the rank of captain in 1972 whom he met in Dar-es-Salam.
In 1979 on the 11th of February, President Museveni was part of the force which crossed Murongo to fight Idi Amin with the Tanzanian Army with some of the people whom he had recruited at Nyamiyaga primary school near Kigando.
“When we crossed, there was a rumor that Amin’s soldiers were at Ntundu but upon checking, they had run away so we walked towards Mbarara and that night we camped at Nsungyezi at the road junction, then we walked up to Ngarama in Isingiro where we established our base. After 5 years of fighting towards the end of 1985, we captured the west and I drove from Buhweju, through Rukungiri, and Ntugamo then I saw the hill again. When we captured power in 1986, I went back to Mbarara, I asked what had happened to the Mutahagarwas and nobody seemed to know,” the President said.
He later came to know that Mutahagarwa was a Muhaya from Tanzania who had studied at Makerere and later established a clinic at Ntundu hill in Isingiro and that he was the first person to settle there.
As President Museveni continued the search for his comrades, he finally met Ms. Mutahagarwa at a rally in Mbarara and they linked up since then.
“I was very happy to learn that this Mutahagarwa was a Muhaya who had settled in the Banyankore area and he had done a good job. Then I heard that Mutahagarwa had actually died in 1966. That’s how I came to know. So, I took it as my duty to look for the family of Mutahagarwa and see how we can support them. When she came and we linked up I was very happy,” President Museveni stated.
He further thanked Maama Mutahagarwa for having listened to his call and came back from Tanzania, saying the Banyankore would have been cursed for not helping someone who got into problems well knowing that her husband had done many good things.
“So, I’m glad that she responded and gave me a chance to show what the real Banyankore like me are like. For somebody to have done such things and died among us, you the Banyankore, it was your duty to look after her very well so that the Bahaya of Tanzania when they hear from her, they get good reports about you,” H.E Museveni added, saying It’s not just good manners but it is also good diplomacy.
He thanked Maama Mutahagarwa for the opportunity to manifest the goodness of the lord and thanked all those that have helped to defend her rights and encouraged them to continue so that she lives comfortably in peace.
He warned those trying to steal her land to back off because he knows the Mutahagarwas family was the first to settle at Ruborogota and anybody claiming the land now is just a thief.
“I could not tolerate this and you should tell all those that please don’t play games with her land because I saw it in 1967 and during the time we were fighting Idi Amin. There was no other person on the hill nor on the road. Those shops which are there have just been established. So, nobody in Nshenyi, Ruborogota, Kikagate can say that he didn’t know that land belonged to Mutahagarwa,” the President warned!
On the same occasion, the President gave her 5 Friesian cows and promised to financially support their family SACCO.
Ms. Mutahagarwa was born on 25th June 1925 and every 25th June, her birthday is celebrated.
In her remarks delivered by Hon Charles Ngabirano, the former member of Parliament for Rwampara County, Ms. Mutahagarwa expressed gratitude to President Museveni for the honor of celebrating her 99th birthday with a special luncheon they shared together.
“I am highly happy and extremely thankful for this opportunity. As I celebrate this milestone, I praise the Almighty loving God who has given me this special gift of life. I pray that he continues to bless, protect and preserve your wisdom as you lead our motherland. Thank you for loving and caring for me wholeheartedly. It is because of you that I’m celebrating 99 years of age. You brought me back into this country from exile, you built for me a home and you took me on as your own mother. How can I thank you? With much humility, I declare that there’s no other person who is like you in the whole world. My promise is to pray for you and your family,” Ms. Mutahagarwa said.
“I thank you for all the material and financial support as well as your physical visits which have continuously given me morale and the urge to live on. I’m very grateful,” she added.
As an old NRM cadre of the system, she is the patron of the FRONASA fraternity of Bukanga Isingiro, Rwampara and Tanzania which was represented by Mr. Bashir Kabetera and Abdu Barigye at the luncheon. She noted that FRONASA Veterans are now very old and they need some routine assistance.
Mr. Augustine Mutahagarwa, one of the grandchildren, on behalf of the family, appreciated President Museveni for always honouring their grandmother.
“This day will forever be cherished. You have given us so much life, your Excellency. She (Ms. Mutahagarwa) has been through so much but you have held her and we are so grateful for your kindness. Thank you,” Mr. Augustine said.
Mr. James Tweheyo who also accompanied Maama Mutahagarwa thanked President Museveni for hosting her and her family.
“We know you’re one of her children and we can’t take it for granted. Thank you very much for the lunch. Even if we hadn’t eaten, coming to this home is very satisfying, Your Excellency,” Mr. Tweheyo said.
