Before becoming Uganda's president, Yoweri Museveni lived in Nairobi as a political refugee in the 1980s. His family, led by wife Janet, fled to Kenya to escape Milton Obote's death squads. They faced numerous threats before eventually leaving Kenya for Sweden.
Yoweri Museveni and his family arrived in Kenya in the early 1980s after clashing with Milton Obote's regime. Janet Museveni and their children fled first, arriving in Nairobi with a trusted aide. They stayed at Sir John Bageire's home in Westlands for two weeks, then moved to a two-bedroom house in Ngong. Muhoozi Kainerugaba joined class one at Rusinga School, while Natasha and Patience Rwabwogo attended nursery at Riverside Drive.
Later, the family relocated to Mangu Gardens in Muthangari off Waiyaki Way. To make ends meet, Janet traveled abroad to buy children's clothes and resell them in Nairobi while her husband fought in the bush. In her memoir My Life’s Journey, Janet recalled: "I kept telling myself that if I was fortunate enough to be reunited with my husband, I would be the best wife."
Everything changed when radio announced Museveni as an enemy of the Ugandan state. Museveni made a secret trip to Nairobi to meet operatives and visit his family but left quickly. The family then moved to Shauri Moyo Estate in the late 1980s, a known hub for Ugandan exiles alongside areas like Calif Eastlands.
Kenyan Special Branch agents began surveilling their home. Agents entered the house when Janet was away, questioning the children about their father. Janet trained the children to say daddy was not there and to stop using the Museveni surname. At St Augustine's Primary off James Gichuru Road, two men tried to collect the children, claiming Janet sent them, but the headmaster refused.
In 1983, their Ugandan house help John was kidnapped, but friends said the abductors were after Janet. After warnings from Ugandan friends and NRM officials about Kenyan agents handing over NRM operatives to Obote, Janet rushed to Nyeri boarding school to pick up Natasha and fled to Sweden via a Dutch UNHCR friend. Britain refused refuge to avoid antagonizing Obote.
