Ambassador for women and girls speaks out on Nakajjigo US court awards

Ms Susan Nabuuma, Uganda’s ambassador for women and girls has broken the silence on the United States Court ruling where the family of Uganda’s activist Esther Nakajjigo was awarded over US$ 10.5 million (about Shs38 billion) for her wrongful death.

The court ruling awarded the husband 9.5m USD (around Shs34 billion), the mother 700,000m USD (Shs2.5 billion) and her father 350000 USD (Shs1.2 billion).

Ms Nabuuma while speaking in Kampala on Thursday, said that there are misconceptions about the court awards where a French husband was given Shs9.5 m USD (around Shs34 billion) which the public has started misrepresenting as racism.

“The Judge was very elaborate in his final judgement and fully explained why each of the plaintiffs was awarded in that way,” she said.

She said that the ward to the French husband was based on the emotional distress caused by what he went through, seeing his wife dying right in front of him, and himself bathing in the blood of a human being.

“The award of the mother was based on the basic minimum of what she would have received from her daughter if she was alive, the award of the father is also the basic minimum of what he would have received from his daughter as support if she was still alive,” she explained.

She added that the money is not yet in Uganda and it will not be soon there as several processes require to be fulfilled and the United States government is still at liberty to appeal the Judgement.

Nakajjigo, a former ambassador for Women and Girls in Uganda died in a tragic accident while exiting Arches National park in 2020. As a result, her husband Ludovic Michaud and her family filed a legal suit alleging that the US Park Service was negligent in maintaining the gates at the entrances and exits to the park leading to Nakajjigo’s death.

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