By Andrew Irumba
Ugandan authorities have succumbed to ‘undue pressure’ by UAE and forced to recall its Ambassador, Nimisha Madhvani from the oil rich no-nonsense united blocs (UAE) who protested her stay after she allegedly invited Ugandan MPs into there to clandestinely investigate allegations that Ugandan girls who left the country for ‘greener pastures’ were instead being sold as slaves!
Officials said Nimisha, using her diplomatic immunity and influence as Ugandan ambassador to UAE, in April 2018 invited Ugandan MPs and were received by Ugandan officials at the Embassy and later led to the alleged slave markets where they confirmed to have indeed found the Ugandan girls on ‘shelves’ like silver fish-Mukene!
This incensed MPs especially opposition members led by Butambala Mp Muwanga Kivumbi who on return, made what UAE officials said were disparaging remarks against the UAE during the press conference. The MPs accused both Uganda and UAE Governments of connivance to torture Ugandans abroad and seriously warned to mobilize against the duo.
The Legislators expressed disappointment over what they called “slavery and trafficking of Ugandans in the United Arab Emirates”.
The MPs raised the concerns to the Ministry of Internal Affairs led by Minister Jeje Odong who was appearing before the Committee of Defence and Internal Affairs on Wednesday,18 April 2018.
Muwanga, in a press conference revealed that during their trip to Abu Dhabi, they visited the “slave market” and learnt with shock how “Ugandan girls were being sold like commodities”.
He added that as a result of the harsh conditions, Ugandan girls were “forced to commit suicide.”
Kivumbi, with tears literally oozing from his eyes informed the Minister that in the past seven months, 16 Ugandan girls committed suicide over hash treatment in UAE!
It’s these comments that stretched UAE’s cooperation with ambassador Nimisha for ‘causing’ such embarrassment to the UAE and finally protested to Uganda’s Foreign Affairs Ministry, asking them to recall her if they wanted their continued cooperation with Ugandan authority, hence the action.
It’s said that UAE diplomats had started shunning Nimisha in her diplomatic work making her life more difficult while there. Fearing a possible escalation of the situation, Kampala recalled her for ‘consultations’.
“I have been directed to instruct you to report to the headquarters immediately for consultations,” wrote Amb Isaac Sebulime on behalf of the Permanent Secretary in a letter dated April 10th 2018.
“You should hand over to Mr Sam Omara who will be in charge of the mission as Charge De’Affaires while you are away,” Sebulime emphasized.
“Nimisha is simply a sacrificial lamb for trying to defend poor Africans, otherwise she did exactly what a sane human being would do;to save a life where you can” an official at the foreign affairs ministry this reporter spoke to on phone on condition of anonymity said on Monday.
Museveni last year traveled to UAE for the 4th Global Business Forum on Africa to reach out to various investors based in Dubai, urging them to exploit the great investment opportunities in Uganda. Pundits say Nimisha could be sacrificed to maintain ‘business pitching’ that Muzei has been personally fully involved in.
Who Is Nimisha Madhvan?
Nimisha Jayant Madhvani, 59 is a Ugandan female diplomat of Indian origin having been born in Uganda in 1959 to Meena Madhvan and Jayat Madhvan, both Ugandan citizens of Indian descent.
She has been Uganda’s Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) since 2017.
Prior to that, Nimisha served as Uganda’s Ambassador to France, Spain, Portugal and UNESCO, Paris.
Nimisha is the first born to one of the five (5) sons of Mulji Prabhudas Madhvani (1894–1958), the Industrialist cum Entrepreneur mogul who founded the Madhvani Group of Companies way back, in 1930s.
Nimisha grew up in the family estates in Kakira, Eastern Uganda. When dictator Idi Amin expelled Ugandan Asians in 1972, Nimisha, a 13 yr old then relocated to the United Kingdom (UK) with her family.
When the current National Resistance Movement captured power in the 1986, the Madhvani family returned to Uganda and repossessed their assets.
In the 1990s Nimisha joined the Uganda Foreign Service, first being posted to Washington, DC, as first secretary to the Ugandan Embassy there.
In 2007, she was transferred to the Ugandan High Commission in India, based in New Delhi, as the second-in-command and one year later confirmed as the substantive High Commissioner there in April 2008. Because of her extra ordinary working capabilities, while there, Nimisha was accredited to concurrently head Uganda’s missions in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
