NRM BUSH WAR MEMORIES: Njuba recruited Kigongo, Nadduli

As individuals, one could always find something to eat. What was more pressing was to feed the refugees and the recruits and to find them accommodation.

When we went there we became active in recruiting. Some people were already in Nairobi and we recruited them from there – like Dr Kizza Besigye and Ivan Koreta.

Officially we remained under cover all the time: the Kenya government was not keen to keep people who were training as guerrillas. The first thing I did when I got to Kenya was to become a refugee. I got a certificate but I did not go into a camp.

They were giving me Kshs 200 per month and I had between 12 and 30 people coming into my house everyday. I also did some business. In addition to feeding recruits, we had to look after wives of some of the people fighting in our camps. When Tom Butiime was in Libya for training, his wife was my neighbour.

Sometime around July 1981 I went with Museveni, Matthew Rukikaire and Ruhakana Rugunda to Libya. We met Gadaffi in his tent, although Museveni, when he wrote his book, The Mustard Seed, he edited me out. I no longer matter.

From there we went to London and met [Princess Elizabeth] Bagaya, Lule and Maj. Ssenkoma. What shocked us towards the end of 1981 was the attempted coup against Moi. We did not know what would happen. Whereas we had some few sympathisers in Moi’s government, we thought a military government would be worse and would kick us out.

Time and again there would be waves to arrest all Ugandans in Nairobi – refugees or not. We used to “dive” [go into hiding] until the wave had passed. And the Kenyan intelligence was so corrupt. They often demanded money from us.

One time they arrested Francis Bwengye and he had to fight to prove that he was a refugee. They then arrested Balaki Kirya and brought him back to Uganda. Mathias Ngobi escaped by catching the next plane to UK; Amama Mbabazi and Ruhakana Rugunda ran to Sweden, and Kisekka went to London, although he came back later.

Fleeing Nairobi

One night in mid 1984, Kenya Police surrounded my house. One of my boys knocked at my door and told me. I had previously thought that I would run away if I was ever surrounded, but if I had tried, I would have died. When I opened, they pulled a gun on me and said: “Mr Njuba we want to check this house. How many people do you have in this house?” I said I did not know.

They found a lot of cheap medicines and I said: “people come here on their way to the refugee camps and they leave their medicines here.” They searched from 3a.m. until 7 a.m. Apart from common drugs like Asporo, they didn’t find any illegal drugs or guns. They took some “Resistance News” newsletters.

They then said: “Mr Njuba we are leaving, you sign here.” I refused, and we argued on and on. Fortunately they spared me – which was a miracle.

From then on I decided I had to leave the country. The UNHCR wanted to take me to Canada but I said I didn’t want to wash cups and dishes. I went to the University of Papua New Guinea as a lecturer.

In Papua New Guinea I was in charge of the region. I was a diplomat representing NRM in South Pacific. I found there James Wapakhabulo (RIP) and persuaded him back into the fold. We asked the Australian government for help (but) they said they would not give us arms but drugs and old clothes.

I came to Nairobi at the end of 1985 and I was assigned to Western Uganda, which we had captured by that time, to see if we could take there essential commodities. We went through Kigali and I found [now Kabaka] Mutebi in Kabale with Amanya Mushega.