By Mike Ssegawa
Six months ago, a husband to a powerful and moneyed lady was sent to jail for failing to pay his honest debt amounting to a billion shillings. He was actually released this week, and still, the law requires him to settle the debt.
Wilson Kyambadde is the husband to the powerful Trade Minister Amelia Kyambadde. They have children together. She carries his surname.
However, when news broke that Wilson had been taken to Luzira, everyone thought it would be a matter of days as his wife mobilizes to funds to get him out. Alas, this was not the case. Dude, served a full term. Six months.
It has been long since I last penned a relationship blog. Friends have however dragged me out of my retirement to comment about this issue.
I will admit. There is a lot that goes on in people’s relationships that remains unknown to outsiders. Two, it is very easy to assume someone has money when in fact they don’t. So anyone asking why Amelia didn’t pull out her cheque book to bail out her husband should first “sit down”.
It is a fact that Wilson is not a much known person like his wife. It is also true that few people know his personal dealings or how many times Amelia has bailed him out.
What is however known is that Amelia spend billions of shillings on her elections, which was equivalent to buying her position of Member of Parliament. She is now a two term MP and a cabinet minister. Before she become minister, she had served as principal private secretary to President Museveni for more than three decades and was seen as one of the most powerful people in Uganda.
One therefore expected that Amelia could not fail to mobilize funds to stop a jailer from taking her husband away. And if it happened in an unexpected move, she would at least mobilize money in a few days to settle the debt which surely, could be seen as a family debt! What we know she didn’t. And some people are wondering why Amelia could leave her husband to suffer and do almost nothing.
My friend went ahead to wonder, if Wilson Kyambadde was the powerful man, and his wife was dragged to court over a debt, will society not go for him for letting his wife down? Of course. Men are seen as protectors. And if he failed, wouldn’t society call him names, and even allege that he could be seeing someone else and the period she is in prison would actually give him a break and see whoever he wants to see at liberty!
I feel sorry for both Amelia and Wilson. But there is something we can pick out as people in relationships.
Sometimes, our spouses throw themselves into harm’s way and expect us to bail them out simply because the mere mention that we are related, would bring humiliation to our reputations. So, we move quickly to solve the problem even when we have little to do with it. The problem is that when this spouse realizes this, they tend to abuse the priviledge and from small thousands of money cases, you wake up one day and a bill of a billion shillings is tables for you to pay.
I therefore agree with Amelia. She took a bold decision. Whereas we know little of the dealings of the two, it is possible Wilson had for many years taken the goodwill of Amelia for granted. How on earth should one demand a billion shilling from you and fail to pay. It cannot be a one off.
For anyone in love, and your spouse blackmails you to this extent and you have done everything in the past and they don’t learn, learn from Amelia. Put the reputation stuff on the shelves, cry a little, and let the spoilt brat serve their term.
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