Perez Rumanzi

Faced with life threatening young life that made her live with different families, fail to complete her education, family chased from their own land and exiled to relatives, an organized marriage and a broken relationship, many mothers, many fathers and a fight for politics, shape Ms Peace Twinamatsiko Rugambwa.

The senior Presidential Advisor on Agriculture and the local person, is an example of a rock grown from many soils that its taste seems bitter sweet to many.

With deep authority and astute demeanor, Peace, well known as Ms Rugambwa is a household name in Kigezi and Ankole region, especially after her appointment as a senior presidential advisor to President Yoweri Museveni in 2025. She led an election that erode the region of all opposition MPs and carries a campaign on her head to improve households of the most marginalized people, by at least home improvement and food security.

Her campaign to give bedding materials including mattresses, bedsheets and blankets to the marginalized elderly, piggery, apiary, goats and onion seeds to the lowly people makes the Prosperity Agenda visible though critics think its an insult to the population marginalized for over 40 years of the Museveni rule that has eroded the population of opportunities to make them wait for tokens and handouts.

We engaged Ms Rugambwa ;

Who is Peace Twinamatsiko?

Born to the late Burasio and Theadore Nkunda of the Basyaba clan in Kafuka Mparo current day Rukiga district in 1978. Nkunda was a Mutongore. At the time her mother conceived her, she was sick and had separated with the husband for many of the children passing at young age. She was 57. When she went to hospital she was told she had 2 remaining ovaries which were disturbing her. She went back to her husband and after an interaction, Peace was conceived and at birth named Twinamatsiko, for she was hope from hopelessness. She however grew up with her sister Ms Twinomugisha wife to one Hakiri Boaz of Rwahi Ntungamo district.

“My Mother had bene told that she can’t give birth anymore, when she went to Kabale hospital at 57 years, she was told she can, this was not normal. She however conceived and gave birth to me. They called me Twinamatsiko, because I was a symbol of hope.” Ms Rugambwa says.

As early as 6years she started speaking too much that everyone thought she was demon possessed, but,  she was gifted that mobile traders would pass her home that they could give her a coin or simply see her to get blessings in the market day. She was however weak in body and would at times develop convulsions which on fall would start foretelling or talk about the people around her.

“I talked a lot and said many things that people could not understand, they thought I was possessed. But there was something on me, traders passed home everyday to gift me or see me just to get blessings on market day.”

She was seen to be possessed. At age 6, she was taken to a folk fore teller in Kaharo so that she could at least stay there and study.

“Every time I went to class and the teacher started teaching, I would fall down and start convulsing, spirits would talk on me saying they are the ones that want to use me, that I must leave school. However, we continued trying. I went to 17 schools for 5 primary classes before I left school.” She notes.

She started at Nyabugando primary school and went to other 16 schools before dropping out minus completing primary education.

She learnt braiding hair, making decoration at age and was making even braid hair for people going for weddings.

All these she did, her family however wanted her in school. Only two girls in a family of over 12 they tried until they could do nothing more. Much of her life was lived with the late Joseline Tumubwine who was her other mother.

Her early life struggle included seeing her mother abandoned, suffering and being dismissed from her land after death of her husband, her land being sold off by relatives and part being grabbed by a teacher. This made her think she should never marry.

In 1996 (on 15^th March) Mr Benard Rugambwa organized with her friend Gorreti, made her to visit Rugambwa, she could only return back home month later to bury her brother’s child as Ms Rugambwa.

On her marriage, juts two weeks into it, her mother was dismissed from the family land, the land left for her and her 2 surviving children Peace and Biryomumaisho who had survived out of the 12. The land had bene bequeathed to the mother by her late husband as share since he was a polygamous husband. A teacher at Kigezi college Butobere one Enock Tushemereirwe had wanted to buy land, though they had refused, he came out, removed the roof on top of their house, beat them up chasing them from the land at Nyabugando, Rwahi. The mother was arrested, a case was taken to the sub county, judged against them in one week and a decision was made to sell the land under police duress. No money was handed to the family. This led to a lasting land battle that Ms Rugambwa won in the late 2000s.

“My mother and siblings were dismissed from our land 2 weeks into my marriage; I was only 17 at the time. I asked my husband to take in my siblings, the remaining 2 of the 12. We had a 3 roomed house and one room was used for business, battery charging and an electronics shop.” She remembers.

Because she wanted her family to survive and get back going, she started cooking and selling Empengyere in front of the shop, and boiling maize porridge and making chips at the same time. This was however an evening business. During the day, Ms Rugambwa would be working on people’s hair from their homes that later culminated into a salon. Much later, the business grew into a small eatery, especially with roasted meat, which she did herself.

Sheile she overworked herself to fend her family and make a contribution to the husband’s earnings, she had a challenge. She failed to conceive and have children for 5 years. The battle with the land grabber, the homeless family hit her hard. She gave herself to God and thought salvation.

“I spent 5 years without conceiving, in 2000, I conceived and had my first child. My mother had shifted and taken refuge at Katurishwa’s home and was tilling land and doing casual work for money. I would at times come and accompany her. The only thing that was near me was my God, I had to get near him too.” She says.

It was when the child came that problems, real problems came in. Rugambwa’s family wanted the two separated because Peace was not educated. When they had had 3 children, one of his sisters came and took one child away and they asked Mr Rugambwa to abandon the family and go and stay with siblings in Kampala.

“My husband left me alone in Muhanga, when he went away, our land lord, Rubizira also dismissed me from the house that I will not afford the rent. I rented another house, started a bar there and started roasting meat in front. I was the first woman to roast meat on the road side.” She says.

The goat roasting business expanded and was making much profit. Ms Rugambwa remembers using abode boda to look for goats in villages that she would get a goat and tie it in her waist and sit on a boda boda from villages for slaughter.

“It was a business dominated by men, I had to match the standards, I would go to villages and buy a goat, tie it in my waist, sit on a boda boda and we ride up to Muhanga. At times it would be like in Kamwezi. At times I slaughtered these goats myself. Fortunately, I would sell a whole goat each day.” She says.

The father-in-law was however never convinced with the idea hatched by siblings and one day facilitated her to go and get her husband at her siblings’ in  Kampala. She remembers forgetting one of the children in the bus on the way to Kampala.

Meeting with President Museveni

Before going back to Kampala, Ms Rugambwa used to walk like a man, barefooted on streets. Her ways were of envy to many a woman but despised by many a man. Her goat roasting business was faulting with debts and she had failed on paying rent. She had been given an eviction notice. She had several cases in court trying to reclaim the stolen family land and she was not thinking.

As the saying would go, the darkest part of the night is when it is getting to morning, the night fell in day light.

“I was walking on street bare footed, everyone behind me was running past me and I was the only person walking, I was not looking behind, I was not scared of anything because I was not feeling anything. There was this vehicle driving towards me, the vehicle had soldiers on top and another one was behind it. It stopped on me. I ran away, soldiers ran after me, they told me there was a man wanting to greet me in the other vehicle, I almost peed on myself.” She says.

When she came to the vehicle quaking, the man introduced himself to here as Akandwanaho Caleb.

“That was not my interest, I had never had the name, he later said he was Salim Saleh, that did not concern me either, I was quaking after all, I never though or knew I had met the brother to President Museveni. When he was to go, he handed me a bundle of money, yamawe! He also gave me a business card and asked me to visit him when I go to Kampala.” She says

The money, Ms Rugambwa used to clear the rent earlier of about 150000, bought two goats and made good profit out of it.

She never went to Kampala to meet Gen Saleh, he went there to find her husband and see her children.

“My journey to Kampala was to get united to my husband who was living with the siblings. When I reached I remembered the card I had, it had a telephone contact, I called Gen Saleh who invited me to his house in Garuga. Another surprise was to meet me. He put me in a house full of money and asked me to take what I thought would satisfy me, I just quaked and left the room with nothing.” She narrates.

Because of her hustle, she had also developed a serious wound on her leg, that had failed to heal over years. Gen Saleh gave her a potion, medicine that would later heal her completely. He said that was the medicine he also used on himself.

“He told me that from then, I became his child, he asked me the business I could do and I told him grain and asked me to identify a store where I would work.”

New in Kampala, Ms Rugambwa would find it hard. Her sister was already in Kampala and also looking for a place to work from.

She was the first to get the store and started with beans in Kafumbe- Kampala. With one sack of beans, the store kept growing with help from Gen Saleh and her simple capital from the village. She had to abandon the Muhaga business and concentrate in Kampala.

“When he saw that I was growing in business and trusted, he connected me to Akiba Company, I started going everywhere in the country looking for beans. Akiba was supplying police, military, office of the prime minister, Rwanda everywhere.” She says.

Supply items also increased to maize flour, millet flour and many other non-perishable items. By 2010, she had become a strong business lady and bought her first car.

“I started community work in 2005, Gen Saleh asked me if he can do something to my village, I mobilized a group of women who could trust me, we started with onion seedlings in Rwahi introducing Red Couch. Women were able to improve their homes, have household items and pay school fees for their children.” She says

She became marketing agent of several Chinese factories from Kapeka especially those that would want to be aligned to Gen Saleh. The factories making iron items including hoes, foods among others under the Kayonza women association.

While she remained working hard in community and promoting the NRM party on her own will, Ms Rugambwa was only connected to President Museveni directly in 2014. After the president ordered Ms Judith Nakalema to reach her to him, she was doing work fro Gen Saleh when the president identified her, she started working with him.

“It was a difficult time like I never thought, a lot of people never want you near the President, I was used to our business. When the president made promises, for me I would use my personal money at times to go ahead and help communities.”

She had in 2010 stood for Sub County NRM chairperson Kayonza sub county, however she was never declared winner. Her protests yielded nothing. She resigned from active politics.

She however later founded the Bona Bagaigahare Nyekundaire group, an NGO which was to be a backbone of her political- Social- Economic development activism. This she launched to work mainly after the 2016 elections, however things never went well with some politicians who thought she was becoming too powerful.

Her wings had spread through Ntungamo, To Rukungiri, Kabale, Kanungu and Kisoro and had introduced Onion growing there. President Museveni had introduced her on several post-election rallies as a champion for prosperity for all, a philosophy he used during the 2016 elections.

Founding the NGO, Ms Rugambwa had thought of developing a self-relying cell-based NGO with paid up membership. The Boona Bagaigahare Nyekundeire attracted over 450000 members. However politics came in and the promise fell flat.

“I tried all efforts to work for the people, but there was so much sabotage, politics was too much especially in Rukungiri, I fell in debts and my NGO almost collapsed. I was called a thief by the people I intended to work for and some politicians wanted to kill me. PM Rugunda (Ruhakana) and Gen Tumukunde kept encouraging me.” She said.

After over 6 years of hibernation, Ms Rugambwa resurfaced in a new face, a government worker, with practical prosperity message, distributing cash and items to groups, leading the political campaign for reelecting Gen Museveni as president and taking on the opposition hardliners. Indeed, in both Ankole and Kigezi where her teams headed the campaign, only one opposition leaning candidate, Mr Gerald Karuhanga emerged a winner. He was also however aligned to her campaign.

In 2025, social media was awash with her videos fighting with security official sat Bagahwe in Bugangari- Rukungiri district. The officials working for security minister Maj Gen Jim Katugugu Muhwezi never wanted her in Rujumbura thinking she would challenge his vote. She whoever became a big part in his reelection campaign.

Part Two of this series will feature the wars of Ms Rugambwa and the political philosophy.

End.