I didn’t expect Mutesi to bring bricklayer as husband, says father

Speaking during the royal wedding week, father of Busoga queen to be Jovia Mutesi has said he “did not expect his daughter to bring a bricklayer or an ordinary man as a husband.”

Mutesi’s 48-year-old towering father Stanley Bayoole views his offspring’s wedding to the monarch as a date with destiny.

“I expected her to bring a man of high respect from any part of the world…say like the president of America or president or at least a president’s son,” Bayoole said.

Ending Thursday, Mutesi and Busoga King (Kyabazinga) Gabula Nadiope IV were just hours away from their November 18 wedding at Christ’s Church Cathedral in Jinja City, Eastern Uganda.

“I groomed her to be at that level. After all the investment I’ve made in her education, I didn’t expect her to bring me a brick maker,” Bayoole said in an NTV Uganda (Akawungeezi) exclusive.

Mutesi, described by royals and subjects as the mother of the kingdom, was September 7 proclaimed to become Busoga’s 5^th queen after a tightly choreographed cultural ceremony.

“After hearing that, I called some few relatives and friends to plan the events to follow. But most activities regarding the matter have been secretive, save for the wedding,” he noted.  

Tens of thousands across Busoga’s 11 chiefdoms are due to join celebrations as the monarchy witnesses a high-profile multimillion-shilling wedding for the first time in nearly 70 years.

“I want to assure you that the Basoga (ethnic group) have finally got the right queen and they will indeed breastfeed,” a calm composed Bayoole remarked as happiness filtered over his face in a television exclusive aired November 16.

“I have also stopped referring to her (Mutesi) as a child. So, if you [and monarchists] can’t call her maama at least call her inhebantu,” he emphasized.

Reflecting on Mutesi’s childhood, the Bulambuli Resident District Commissioner (RDC) who defected from the opposition FDC to the ruling NRM party in 2015, said: “Growing up, she respected, loved and greatly cared for people.”

“She was unique and could even give anything she had and remain with nothing for people around her to be happy,” he said of Mutesi, whose public life remains unknown to many Ugandans even after she was declared inhebantu.

Bayoole notes that correct parenting was crucial in shaping his child’s journey that has earned him and her ancestral Mayuge District- respect.

“As a parent, I felt overjoyed when I got the news that the king had chosen her, but I was not surprised. Train, educate very well and instill discipline in your children as they grow so that they can get very good men and families in future,” he advised parents.

Asked if he will miss his daughter, Bayoole told NTV that “it will not be too much since she’s in the right hands, and now to mother millions of Basoga.”

FYI

Mutesi studied at Makerere and Nkozi University.