At just 32, Ronld Kibuule is living the life his agemates only dream of. He has been a minister for over five years, has two wives and is a billionaire with interests in several Chinese-owned manufacturing companies, but his life is punctuated with dramatic series that could do for a Nollywood script.
State Minister for Water Resources Ronald Kibuule is back in the news. And on many occasions, it is never for a good reason.
Late last week, the youthful minister, was accused by Hellen Obuku, a security guard at Stanbic Bank Mukono of assault. Apparently he did not want to go through security checks because he is a minister and the guard didn’t want to know.
Social media being social media, the incident went viral with claims that the hapless guard had been slapped into coma by the minister! (We guess Golola Moses and Incredible Hulk are the only other men that can slap someone into coma).
Eye witnesses say that after being embarrassed in the incident, Kibuule stepped aside and made a phone call. In no minute, a Police Patrol Pick-Up truck arrived … you guessed right, to pick up Obuku.
Next thing was a Stanbic Bank apology to the minister that was widely circulated, again on social media. Cyber citizens went up in arms, with many threatening to close their Stanbic Bank accounts (a valued customer like Kibuule must have wondered if many that threatened actually have accounts in the bank, or whether their bank balance doesn’t warrant closure of their accounts by the bank itself).
First forward, Kibuule decided to appear in the court of social media where he had been crucified, by posting his version of the story on his Facebook account.
It started with a disclaimer about how he doesn’t usually use social media, which got us wondering … This guy is just 32, and a former Minister for Youth and Children. Youth are on social media so we expected him to be regular on social media. Anyway, back to his explanation, Kibuule said that he refused to be checked because the guard was a woman, which is also interesting because he is not one to fear women (he has two wives, but we are coming to that later).
Kibuule, like most politicians are expected to say, blamed his political detractors for framing him (like they are the ones who advised him to protest being checked). We understand he has since sought to meet the guard to settle matter amicably. So those of you calling for his resignation should take a chill pill. At least resignation is not in his plans.
Mini skirt wearing rape victims call for it
And speaking of calls for Kibuule to resign, this is the second time women activists are baying for his blood. First was in 2013 when they called for him to resign his then portfolio as Youth Minister after he said that women who wore miniskirts as good as called for rape and
Police should dismiss the cases in case they reported any.
“I have told Police that they shouldn’t listen to a person who comes to report a rape case putting on a mini-skirt. The intention was, why don’t you rape me?” the minister was quoted by Daily Monitor.
After saying his was quoted out of context, the paper released a recording of his speech and he went cold.
A lover of women – literally
But the women activists against Kibuule should know that he actually loves women, and he loves them in plenty. The minister officially has two wives Fortunate and Esther.
When he was first elected Member of Parliament in 2011, he was just 27, but he made a bold statement and a grand entry by appearing with both his wives, one in the left arm and the other in the right one for his swearing-in ceremony.
Kibuule is a man of means, so each woman has a palatial mansion that she calls home. But on official duties, they are summoned to accompany their man Jacob Zuma style. The two women stood by Kibuule’s side during the recent elections and took turns to campaign for him.
In a previous interview with The Observer, Kibuule narrated how he came to have two wives. He was a campuser at Uganda Christian University Mukono and he had more than enough love and sperm to offer.
Kibuule was two-timing his women and though as Youth Minister he warned young people against HIV saying he feared it, it seems during his campus days he had no fear as it turns out that his two girlfriends got pregnant at about the same time, meaning he was going live with both of them at the same time!
“One of them told me she was pregnant and a few days later, another one also told me she had a baby on the way. I didn’t want to be a muyaye and disappoint any, so I kept both,” Kibuule says of his wives … but any woman will tell you, knocking up two women at the same time without their knowledge is already being a muyaye.
“Well, at first they both ganged up against me and hatched a plan to dump me. But then they betrayed each other and came back to me in secret. Then they agreed to stay with me,” Kibuule says.
Probing how he juggles two women, Kibuule was asked, “And what if one wife calls in the middle of the night that the child is ill?”
“Am I a doctor? Doesn’t she have a car and money to take the child to hospital? They have their businesses… they have money to handle such emergencies,” like we expected him to say anything less.
Pepper spray
Whoever still has doubts as to whether Kibuule doesn’t love women has not listened to his advice to them on how to avoid rapists. “Carry pepper spray,” he one time advised women on what weapon to carry against rapists. So we guess every miniskirt wearing woman should carry pepper spray, because according to Kibuule wearing miniskirt is a call to be raped.
Gun totting
And speaking of weapons, though he is a civilian, Kibuule’s guards as a minister are not enough as he is known to carry his own firearm. During a committee meeting to debate the Temangalo Land Scandal in the previous Parliament, Kibuule was ordered out by the committee chair, John Odiit, because he was carrying a gun.
He is militant
While Ugandans took to social media to demand for the minister’s resignation, Kibuule was during the same week also sucked into a land wrangle in Ntawo Village, Mukono District, where a mob attacked and attempted to lynch Church of Uganda bishops.
Fortunately Police managed to rescue the prelates led by Archbishop Stanley Ntagali from the irate mob while coming from a tour of the one square mile piece of land that belongs to the church last Tuesday.
Canon Dr John Ssenyonyi, the UCU Vice Chancellor, pointed fingers at two officials that he alleged mobilised the mob in a bid to frustrate their efforts; Kibuule and Brig Proscovia Nalweyiso, the senior presidential advisor on defence and security .
“How can a powerful official in the army and government be among those trying to grab church land? They have money to buy land elsewhere but they are also acting like they are poor and want to get free land,” Dr Ssenyonyi told the Daily Monitor.
Kibuule, who owns a home on the land, came out clearly and accused the prelates of “hiding in God’s name to steal land!”
“We shall resist such an attempt. The church cannot evict tenants illegally.”
According to the Daily Monitor, ‘the land under contention is being developed by Uganda Christian University (UCU) on behalf of the church.’ Kibuule and Brig Proscovia Nalweyiso, are among more than 800 people on the contested land.
Kibuule at a glance
- Kibuule was born in January 1984 in Mukono.
- He graduated with a Social Works degree from Mukono University in 2008.
- He is married to two women and has three children.
- This is his second term as Mukono County North Member of Parliament.
- At 13, as a pupil of P.5, he campaigned for President Museveni in the Mukono Taxi park and intrigued then area MP Janat Mukwaya who took him to a Museveni rally to deliver the same message. He didn’t meet the president then as his father told him it was time to go home, but the president was to later hear about him and take him under his wing. He studied courtesy of former Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi who paid his tuition and President Museveni later sent him to Korea for leadership training.
- Kibuule is a wealthy fellow who has shares in some Chinese industries that he lured to set up business in Mukono.