NAIROBI • Ugandan authorities have put a woman who says she is the “secret wife” of Vice President Gilbert Bukenya under house arrest, state media said yesterday, adding fuel to a sex scandal that has engulfed the east African state.
A married former medical professor with three children, Bukenya is number two to President Yoweri Museveni and seen by supporters as a leading candidate to succeed the man who has ruled the country for more than 20 years.
The vice president who once brought a reserved, distinguished tone to the colourful cut-and-thrust of Ugandan politics was pushed into the limelight this week when a State House secretary, Jamilah Nakku, said she was his second wife.
The bearded 58-year-old refused calls to resign and, through his lawyers, vowed to defeat “blackmailers” behind what he branded a “malicious character-assassination campaign”.
“I urge the press to help me in the fight against poverty instead of wasting space reporting on my alleged relationships,” he said. “Who doesn’t have relationships?”
Hundreds of supporters converged on Bukenya’s ranch over the weekend, many waving placards denouncing Nakku. State-owned Sunday Vision newspaper reported she had been detained.
“There is a fear that if she is left on her own, she could make more comments about her affair with the vice president,” the Sunday Vision quoted a government source as saying. Ugandan government officials were not immediately available for comment.
Nakku, 31, told reporters she had pictures of her traditional wedding ceremony with Bukenya at her parents’ home.
“He is my husband although I know he has another wife ... I would love to give him a son,” she said.
Uganda is one of Africa’s most staunchly Christian states and the scandal has delighted many who are more used to media tales about stalled peace talks with vicious northern rebels, or attacks on their troops serving as peacekeepers in Somalia.
The deputy speaker of parliament blocked attempts this week by members to launch what the papers called a “Bukenya love debate”, but many voiced disapproval, and delight, in the media.
“As a good Catholic he should resign or at least apologise,” said one ruling Movement party member, Bruno Pajobo.
Another, Alex Byarugaba, added: “The V P is busy fighting poverty in the rural areas and if in the process he gets entangled with a woman, I cannot blame him.”
Opposition firebrand Odonga Otto said Bukenya had offended the church and his office, but he was not the first.
“Past presidents have had affairs,” Otto said. “In fact, I would give $1 million if anyone in Cabinet were monogamous.”
As a Catholic from one of Uganda’s biggest tribes, the Baganda, Bukenya brought support from those groups to Museveni, a Protestant cattle-boy-turned-rebel from a western tribe.
