How Museveni Spotted a 10-Year-Old Girl at a Meeting in Kabale, Put Her in His Convoy and Changed Her Family’s Life – Racheal Naijuka

Ugandan entrepreneur Racheal Naijuka has shared an extraordinary story of how a chance encounter with President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni in 2001 changed the course of her life. What began as an ordinary day helping her mother decorate a venue at the Uganda-Rwanda border in Katuna, Kabale District, unexpectedly turned into a meeting that eventually helped her secure an education through a State House scholarship.

Naijuka, who was about 10 or 11 years old at the time, had accompanied her mother, who operated a small decoration business and had been hired to prepare a venue for peace talks between Museveni and Rwandan President Paul Kagame. Her responsibilities included blowing up balloons and arranging flowers. She had no idea that the assignment would bring her face-to-face with two presidents or open doors that would shape her future.

While seated at the back of the venue, Naijuka caught Museveni’s attention. According to her account during a podcast interview, the President appeared curious about what a young girl was doing at such an important meeting. He called her over and asked her name and why she had attended the event. She explained that her mother had been hired to decorate the venue and that she had come along to help with the preparations.

Naijuka recalled that Museveni took her by the hand and brought her closer to the meeting, allowing her to spend part of the day around the presidential delegation. Rather than remaining at the back of the venue, she found herself among the guests, watching the discussions and receiving refreshments. She particularly remembers being served tea and samosas, an unexpected experience for a young girl who had simply accompanied her mother to work.

The day became even more unusual when approaching rain forced organisers to move the meeting to another venue. As the presidential convoy prepared to leave Katuna, Naijuka expected to remain behind with her mother. Instead, Museveni reportedly rolled down his vehicle window and pointed towards her. A soldier then picked her up and placed her in another vehicle in the convoy, which travelled to White Horse Inn in Kabale. Her mother was left at the border, unaware of where her daughter had been taken.

At the hotel, Naijuka spent time playing in the gardens, climbing trees and enjoying the surroundings while the presidential meeting continued. After the discussions, the delegation returned to Katuna, where Museveni met her mother and other family members. Naijuka said the President instructed then Foreign Affairs Minister James Wapakhabulo to arrange for her to visit him later at his Rwakitura home. He also handed her family a brown envelope, although she said she could no longer remember what it contained.

However, the family later faced a difficult period when Naijuka’s father died in 2001. The loss left her mother struggling financially, and the family eventually sought assistance from State House based on the earlier encounter and the President’s promise. Her mother continued following up with Wapakhabulo but died before the process was completed. Naijuka’s aunt then took over the effort, contacting presidential adviser Grace Nyakwenegura, who helped present the young girl’s photographs and details to State House.

Those efforts eventually resulted in Naijuka receiving a State House scholarship that supported her education. Looking back more than two decades later, the entrepreneur and chief executive officer of Tanias Reusables credits the intervention with helping her and her siblings complete school despite the loss of both parents. “If it wasn't for President Museveni, I and my siblings would never have finished school,” she said. Naijuka hopes to meet the President again someday, remembering how an unexpected encounter in Kabale became a turning point for her family’s future.