In Part VI of the series, Jerome Kule Bitswande listens to Theoklitus Musoke-Nteyafas, a multilingual career diplomat who served under different Ugandan regimes. His career started in Eastern Europe, then to Scandinavia before winding up in South America.
My name is Theoklitus Truman Musoke-Nteyafas, son of the late Dr Erisa Musoke of Kyebando who was one of the first African medical doctors.
EDUCATION
I studied at Bulame Orthodox School in Zirobwe and completed my primary school in 1958. At Bulame, Greek was one of the subjects. Thereafter, I joined Chwa II memorial school in Namungoona for my secondary education up to 1962.
While there, I got more interested in Greek and in a short period I started speaking the language fluently. I had different stints of work in several places because of Greek. Actually, I always had work in my holidays.
This included working in Kenya where I worked as a clerk for a Greek man for three months before I worked in Tanzania as a store manager for a Greek company for six months.
Thereafter, I came back to Uganda because I wanted to further my studies.When I went to the Orthodox Church in Namungoona where I used to pray, they were happy to see me and they told me that they had received several letters commending them for having groomed me. I then asked them if they had any scholarships; they told me they had study opportunities to Greece, Boston, Turkey and Paris.
I settled for the Paris scholarship since it was an opportunity to learn French. I then went to St Sergius Orthodox Theological Institute where I enrolled for a bachelor’s in theology. At the institute, I also studied Russian which won me a scholarship to Patrice Lumumba Peoples’ Friendship University where I pursued a master’s in international law and diplomacy.
That was the same time Chris Rwakasisi, Kajabagu Ka Rusoke and Ali Pichu were also pursuing their studies there. Anyway, while there, I also used it as an opportunity to study Spanish.
JOINING THE FOREIGN SERVICE
After my studies in Russia in 1968, I returned to Uganda and was offered a job in the ministry of Public Service after successfully sitting interviews. I was posted to the Office of the President as assistant district commissioner Ankole but I turned it down.
They [interviewers] asked me why and I told them I was a professional diplomat with a master’s degree in international law and diplomacy.
I also told them about my rich knowledge of a variety of languages; I was speaking about eight languages then; English, Kiswahili, Luganda, French, Greek, Spanish, Kinyarwanda and Russian.
They were all shocked and said: “This one surely should go to Foreign Service.” So, my first posting was to the Soviet Union, considering that I used to speak Russian and I had studied there. Before I went to my new place of work, I and a few others were subjected to six months of training in diplomacy from the Institute of Public Administration which is the present-day Uganda Management Institute [UMI].
POSTING IN RUSSIA
At the beginning of 1971, I went to Russia. To me, that was a posting back home considering that I had stayed in Russia for about five years. Of course I was Foreign Service officer grade six; so, in Russia I was third secretary in charge of protocol.
In fact, I was also involved a lot with Ugandan students who were studying in Russia; as you may be aware, very many Ugandans studied at Patrice Lumumba Peoples’ Friendship University. I actually remember when Edith Bafakulera [Edith Grace Ssempala] came to pursue her engineering studies in Russia, I received her, and we became close since then. I always tried to give students as enough attention as possible.
I also hosted the president’s son, Taban Amin. He had been admitted to a military academy in Russia; he stayed with me for about two weeks before he went to school. He was a humble and interesting young man.
The other thing that also needs to be appreciated is that Russia was a communist state; so, they did not offer a lot of support to non-citizens; but they invested in affordable education.
Most Ugandans were beneficiaries of this education through scholarships. Our students were well taken care of; I constantly checked how they were faring since I was personally an alumnus of that same university. In 1975, I was promoted from third secretary to first secretary without going through second rank; all that, I think, was influenced by the fact that I spoke good Russian.
My colleagues from other countries were complaining of restrictions or limited movements; but for us, there were never such restrictions. The Russians took me as one of them; I made many friends. I served in Russia until I got my next posting in late 1975.
TRANSFER TO UGANDA
Around November 1975, I received a transfer to Uganda. By the way, after I joined Foreign Service; Obote was ousted and Idi Amin rose to power. But as career diplomats, we were not really affected by these political changes.
When I got here, I worked as deputy chief of protocol. My major job was to ensure that everything related to protocol is in order.
I was involved when all ambassadors were going to present their credentials to the presidents of the countries where they had been posted; so, I really travelled a lot. Back here in Uganda, I was in charge of diplomats who wanted to meet the minister and the president.
In fact, even when they were tough times for many Ugandans working in government, us in protocol department were respected a lot. But still we had to be careful. I, for example, made sure that my wife did not come near Amin’s soldiers because they could end up snatching her and nothing would be done about it.
So, I did my job until Amin was toppled in 1979. That is when I also felt the tension; I was experiencing the political change from within. It was surely a bit challenging because we were not only working in government but also staying in government facilities. I lived in a government house in Kololo and so were most of my colleagues.
Some of the buildings were raided by the Tanzanian forces that had overthrown Amin; so, we thought it was equally unsafe for us. I picked my family and took them to my sister’s home in Kawempe-Kagoma.
I would constantly come and check on the house [in Kololo] but it was never touched; only that one time I met those soldiers; they arrested me and ordered me to sit down. Again, like language had always done wonders, Kiswahili saved me. I spoke to them in Kiswahili that I was going to parliament since I was the acting chief of protocol.
Then chief of protocol Mr Kibuuka had fled the country. Their commander looked at me and asked if I meant what I said and I answered in the affirmative. He then recommended that I should even be given an escort, but I declined. I was left to go to parliament where I met Kahinda Otafiire.
He [Otafiire] had worked with us in Foreign Service. He introduced to me the new minister of foreign affairs [Otema Alimadi] to whom I introduced myself; I congratulated him upon his new appointment and right away, he took me to Nile hotel where most of government business was being conducted.
When we went to the hotel, he asked me what my plans were and I told him that I intended to organize a meeting for him with the dean of the diplomatic corps who was then a French ambassador, a proposal he consented to. The following day I ensured the meeting took place.
Thereafter, I organized a meeting of the minister with all ambassadors and he was very happy; he started boasting of how he had met a hardworking employee in the ministry of foreign affairs. That very day, he approached me and told me how Mrs Museveni [Janet] was flying into the country from Tanzania; and they had failed to get a means to transport her from the airport since most of the cars had been looted.
I offered him my Volkswagen and asked them to provide fuel; which they did and hence used it to bring Mrs Museveni from the airport to her home. In fact, that is also how I came to meet President Museveni, who was then minister of Defence. So, I worked as acting chief of protocol shortly until I went to further studies.
TRANSFER TO PARIS
When I was in Moscow, I made several friends; among them was the French ambassador to Russia. We became so close, that even when I was transferred back to Kampala, he would come and check on me.
So at one time, I told him I wanted to go back to Paris for studies; and before I knew it, he had secured me a scholarship to pursue a diploma in diplomacy at the International Institute of Public Administration-Paris, which I successfully did for one year.
Upon completion, the ministry of Foreign Affairs decided to hold me at the Ugandan mission in Paris as head of chancery. This was another interesting appointment because you should remember that I had studied in France before and now, I had just finished another course. I was very conversant with the language [French] and the people.
I remember at one time when I was at a coffee shop; two men came in speaking Greek. I approached them and greeted them in their dialect; they were amazed to see an African young man speaking Greek. Incidentally, one of them happened to be Onasis Aristotle, a shipping billionaire.
He engaged me in a conversation and told me his life story – he explained how he eventually became a billionaire in a poor country, like Greece was then. When he left, we kept contact and he kept on sending me some money.
By the way; at one point I was even attached to the French embassy in Mauritius for some diplomatic practical work. Of course, when a diplomat is asked of a favour, you do not decline; so, I spent three months in Mauritius working for the French government. The good thing is that I was well paid.
In 1984, I was promoted to rank of counsellor. Since the embassy was also accredited to Geneva, I also attended several United Nations conferences. I worked in Paris until 1985 when I was posted back to Kampala to work as director of the department of Eastern Europe, Asia and the Pacific.
TRANSFER TO DENMARK
Early 1986, the [Foreign Affairs] permanent secretary told me I would be posted back to Moscow; but I was supposed to go on leave first; so, I did that. When I reported back to work; I was told that things had changed.
Surely they had, because the NRM had ascended to power. I was informed by the permanent secretary that a young lady who had been politically appointed wanted me to work with her in Denmark. I realized it was Edith [Ssempala].
I think it was because I had served them well as students in Moscow. So I went to Copenhagen, Denmark as counsellor. We were also attached to Sweden and Finland. Whereas Ssempala was the political head, I was the chief technocrat involved with drafting proposals and reports, writing speeches and organizing meetings with other diplomats, among many other things.
I worked in Denmark until 1989 in November when I was transferred back to Kampala to work as director, department of Western Europe, and later briefly as deputy director international organizations.
Prior to my transfer in 1989, I had been promoted to the rank of minister counsellor.
In April 1990, I was handpicked by the president to work as his private secretary in charge of diplomacy.
SUPPORTING MUSISI
In 1992 when I was working with State House, I looked for what I could do to support sports in Uganda. I bought a few materials and established a boxing club at Tivoli entertainment center in Kawempe.
So, quite many youths who were interested in sports got involved in the club. I remember one day a young man came to me; he introduced himself as Magid Musisi, he asked if I could help him play football at a professional level. With the friends I had created in different countries, I thought the favour he asked for was not the hardest.
A few weeks later, I learnt that popular French football coach, Claude Le Roy, then coach of DR Congo, was in the country. I met him at a party which had been organized at the French embassy to bid him farewell.
Of course when we met, we spoke French and we talked at length about France after I told him that I had formerly worked and studied in France. He was surprised at how much I knew about his country. I then asked the man if there was any chance for a Ugandan footballer [Musisi] to play in France. He promised to get back to me in the near future.
In two weeks’ time, he had sent two tickets – one for me and the other for the player; but before we could leave, I communicated to him that tickets were not enough since it was only fair that his club [SC Villa] boss also goes.
Le Roy sent a third ticket. Musisi, I and his club president [Patrick] Kawooya went to Paris; I went a week earlier to prepare for their arrival. I received them with some officials from Stade Rennes football club where Majid was to undergo trials; we then drove about 300km to the Rennes grounds where we found the players training.
Unbothered that Musisi and Kawooya were tired, the club officials demanded that Musisi does his trials there and then but Kawooya refused. I thought we were losing out on an opportunity; so, I asked the boy if he could make it and he answered in the affirmative, only that he demanded to be given some food which we did. When he went into the pitch for practice, he scored a goal.
News about him spread through town but the club remained adamant to sign him, we then called a press conference and announced that we were taking Musisi back to Uganda. When the news fell into the ears of the club officials, they quickly rushed to call us and a deal was signed.
TRANSFER TO CUBA
After I worked with the president for about three years, I told him that I wanted to go back to Foreign Service as I look forward to my retirement. The president directed Amelia Kyambadde, who was then the principal private secretary, to handle my transfer back to ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Mr Museveni was aware of my prowess in linguistics; he asked me if I also knew how to speak Spanish and when I answered in the affirmative; he directed that I should be sent to his friend, Fidel Castro in Cuba.
I was briefly appointed as the director department of Asia and the Pacific and in December 1993, I was posted to Havana, Cuba.
But before I left for Cuba, somebody brought an idea – I don’t know from where – that: ambassadors should leave their families in Uganda. Earlier, I used to move with my family wherever I was appointed and wherever they studied, it was government that footed the bill.
I was disturbed with the idea of leaving my family behind because I had lost my wife; so, my children had nobody to take care of them at home. I was lucky my brother accepted to keep them for me; so, I would send him some little money for their upkeep.
By the way, when the idea was hatched, they told us that fees for our children would be paid here, but that even was not done. So, I had to pay fees for my children. It was really a challenge to stay in Cuba and leave my children behind.
That aside, I reported to Cuba as minister counsellor in December 1993, deputizing then King of Tooro Patrick Kaboyo. We briefly worked together for about two months and when he left, I assumed his position as head of mission until 1998 when I voluntarily retired.
It was quite challenging because I didn’t have my children. I, however, liked Cuba so much. I also liked the Cuban people; they were very free people.
Fidel Castro was a friendly man who always invited us for dinner; actually, he always wondered how I came to know very many languages. I never got any troubles. I played a great deal in securing scholarships for some Ugandans to study there. These include my two children Chris and Jane Nteyafas.
jeromekulbits@gmail.com
Look out for another engaging interview in this series next Friday
