By Kintu Richard
A fatherly gesture from President Yoweri Museveni and a quick decision from Hajji Faruk Kirunda saved Presidency Minister, Milly Babirye Babalanda from succumbing to the deadly Covid-19 virus in 2021.
This was revealed by the minister during a thanksgiving ceremony which she organized at Iringa Township Primary School in Buyende district on Saturday June 7, 2025 to celebrate a second chance at life.
Comparing herself to the lone Biblical leper who amongst the ten remembered to thank the Lord for healing him (as told in Luke 17:17), Babalanda thanked the Almighty God for using President Museveni and Hajji Faruk Kirunda to save her at a critical time when she was almost losing the battle to covid.
“I had been admitted at a health centre in Mukono but the sickness was progressing very fast to the extent that blood clots had started forming in my body. I had even slipped into coma when Faruk Kirunda came and took me to Mulago Hospital and thereafter informed the president about my condition. The president met my medical bills at the hospital and even flew me outside the country for further treatment until I became better,” Babalanda recounted to the sea of supporters who flooded Iringa to help her thank her God.
Babalanda added that during the course of her sickness, God manifested his love to her through other people including her sister Alice Nalumu and her friend, Princess Pauline Nassolo; who abandoned their homes and permanently stayed by her sickbed until she got better.
“I also want to thank my husband, Pastor Babalanda who held the family together during that time, becoming the mother and father during my trying time,” Babalanda said. She also reserved special praise for other friends and ‘heroes’ including Kellen Kayonga, Commissioner Habib Sseruwagi, and Gen. Nalweyiso, Maj. Martha Asiimwe, Presidency Secretary Hajji Yunus Kakande, among others.
Babalanda reserves special praise for Kadaga
Tracing her journey to becoming a national icon, Babalanda attributed her baby steps to former Speaker, Rt. Hon. Rebecca Kadaga, who spotted her raw talent in community mobilization, mentored her and even introduced her to the president.
“Mama Kadaga identified me through my community mobilization work at the village level and began assigning me tasks, through which she also introduced me to the president,” she said.
Babalanda revealed that due to her humble but very hardworking nature, the President quickly appreciated her talent, paving the way for her to shine as a prolific mobiliser at the national level.
In fact, 4 years ago during a meeting with his advisors at Kyankwanzi, the president corroborated this narrative while narrating how he met Babalanda. Praising her ability to move things, the president told his attentive advisors that this woman from Busoga is blessed with a rare positive energy which he knew would make her excel at the national level.
He recounted how he spontaneously spotted capability while she was still in Busoga, and immediately got convinced that she could do wonders if brought to serve in government.
” I am so happy with Babalanda. The force in her. I love the fighting spirit of the Basoga women,” said a smiling Museveni amid cheers from his audience.
“I got her while fighting in Busoga, and said, let me take her to Kampala so she can fight from there,” he added.
Babalanda Shines On The Big Stage
Following her successful stint with her grassroots Busoga Rural Development Association (BURDA), which even earned her the moniker Mama BURDA, Babalanda was appointed RDC for Busia, as her first position on the national stage. It is worth noting that this is a place which the president has used to nurture his other formidable mobilisers including Premier Robina Nabbanja.
Babalanda took this opportunity by the scruff of the neck, working with admirable distinction. This vindicated the President’s instincts on her and so he immersed her into bigger things. Four years after Busia, the President appointed Babalanda his Special Presidential Assistant and Senior Presidential Adviser on mobilisation. She was then posted to the president’s private mobilization office which was headed by former PPS Molly Kamukama at Mbuya.
While in this role, Babalanda’s influence grew bigger and as we headed to 2021, it became apparent that her mobilization skills would be better utilized if she worked directly with the president.
This is how the idea to create the Office of the NRM Chairman at Kyambogo was birthed, with Babalanda as its pioneer head. And true to her nature, she set up key mobilization structures including the vote protectors, who did most of the grassroots mobilization for the president, helping him win a fresh mandate for 2021.
The Long Promise
A loyal and good servant is every master’s pride. To President Museveni, Babalanda proved to be that unignorably loyal servant.
And having surpassed expectations in all her assignments he gave her, Museveni earmarked Babalanda as ministerial material in 2016. He thus invited her to his home in Rwakitura and announced to her his intentions to make her minister. Like anyone from humble beginnings, Babalanda’s heart soared to the skies, taking with it all the joy and pride in this world. However, deeper into this discussion, there arose a serious catch! The pangs of poverty that had afflicted Babalanda while growing up in that humble Christian home in Nalinaibi reared an ugly reality. This was the fact that the diploma Babalanda possessed as her highest academic qualification had been obtained from an unlicensed institution. She would therefore meet challenges during the parliamentary vetting process.
“Foreseeing this, the President advised me to go back to school and get the relevant qualifications; he promised to make me minister once I fixed the papers,” Babalanda revealed.
Like a woman on a mission, Babalanda embarked on an educational journey which saw her bag the requisite papers fit for a ministerial appointment by 2021. So serious was she with education that even after getting the ministerial position, she soldiered on, recently graduating with a bachelor’s degree from Bugema University and as we speak now, she is fully enrolled for her Master’s degree.
Ministerial Duties Mired In Covid Death Scare
Luck and Babalanda seem to be as synonymous as rain and thunder. This is because the president kept his ministerial promise to her alive for a whopping five years! However, the appointment proved the notion that there’s a very thin line between success and failure. Babalanda told her guests that the euphoria that came with her new ministerial milestone was so overwhelming that she let her guard loose on the covid monster which was raging at the time.
“Very many friends and well-wishers came to congratulate me upon my appointment. I became too excited and hugged them and shook their hands; unfortunately exposing myself to the Covid virus in the process,” she narrated.
The Covid soon took its heavy toll on her and she was only thankfully saved by the timely and generous intervention of her loyal handler Hajji Faruk Kirunda and president Museveni who evacuated her for better treatment and also flew him out of the country for further management and footed the attendant costly medical bills respectively.
Through God’s divine mercy, Babalanda pulled through the death scare and her workaholic nature hit the road running on her ministerial duties while still curing from the nasty pandemic.
“I’m sure those who were very observant noticed that during my swearing-in I was visibly weak and still battling the effects of Covid. I’m however very grateful that the Lord restored me to full health,” she said.
Babalanda the Super Minister!
This political term has been plagued by scandals among ministers— including but not limited to the Karamoja iron sheets saga, among others. But despite being in a very influential office, Babalanda has remained scandal-free thus far. This, though, is no mean feat, especially given that some of her predecessors succumbed to the pressures and temptations which come with an office which makes one have the president’s ear within touching distance.
Babalanda attributes this temptation-proof character and lack of greed to her modest Christian upbringing which taught her to be content with whatever God puts only within her righteous reach.
“I thank the Almighty God that he has enabled me to uphold the values of humility and contentment that my parents taught me. It is these values which have helped me to work with total honesty and dedication on all assignments I am given,” she said.
Babalanda revealed that by nature, she never craves more than she believes God has wished her to get and this is why she keeps humble despite scaling the highest heights of public administration on the national level.
She also notes that her humility has enabled her to work with everybody, including very complicated personalities, without any biases. As a result, she has stayed clear of any political cliques— which are the source of divisive politics.
“I’m not a member of any political camp or clique in this country because I hate the politics of divisionism— and that’s something I copied from His Excellency the President,” she said, urging leaders to toe the same line as it will help them leave behind a legacy of clean pro-people service.
Why Parliamentary Ambition?
Babalanda is among the few Museveni cadres lucky to be in cabinet as ex officios. But while she’s aware and thankful of this privilege, Babalanda revealed that a calling to serve her people better forced her to join parliament, an arena where national lobbying and debate is done.
“My experience in parliament as an ex officio has shown me that in such a position you don’t get the chance to effectively and efficiently contribute to the welfare of your people because there are many debates you cannot engage in yet what’s being discussed directly affects your people. It is because of the deep calling to serve my people right from my formative days as a local women mobiliser that I decided to join parliament so as to amplify their voice more effectively,” Babalanda told her thousands of Budiope West supporters.
Babalanda: Budiope’s Pride & Servant Leader
A born leader and selfless being known for her generosity, Babalanda—just like her mentor Kadaga— has already imprinted her magnanimity on the hearts of the Budiope Weat and entire Buyende constituents. This was clearly visible at her thanksgiving ceremony where the sea of humanity which graced the event erupted in rapturous jubilation the moment she stepped on the Iringa Township P/S grounds.
The locals already see her as their true ally in the fight against poverty and general socioeconomic empowerment efforts. As we speak now, she has been instrumental in extending clean water to the constituency, with almost every village having a borehole constructed by her. Through her Babalanda Foundation, she has enabled hundreds of Budiope children to keep in school by providing both scholastic materials and tuition sponsorships.
Her community empowerment programme has extended coffee seedlings to farmers in Buyende, while she has enforced food security in the constituency by distributing quality seedlings and seeds to the locals. A hatchery she established in the constituency has also seen her distribute thousands of chicks to the locals for poultry farming, which is now booming in the area.
Busoga being a major maize growing region, Babalanda ensured that she extends means of value addition to the prized cereal by courting the Maganjo Grain Millers investor to establish a state-of-the-art milling machine in jinja. On top of employing over 200 people including youth from the region, the factor also helps enhance incomes from maize through value addition.
Curiously, all these initiatives wouldn’t have been possible given her busy schedule. However, being the prolific mobiliser she is, Babalanda has managed to rally the religious, cultural and local political leaders to mobilise and sensitize the locals to embrace government programs.
And to entrench the message, Babalanda has so far acquired and donated 4 motorcycles each to the clergy from the Muslim, Anglican and Catholic sects, with others still on her waiting list for the same providence.
She has also managed to foster community unity by mobilizing the minority tribes in Buyende including the Bakenye to participate in government programmes and get their voice heard following decades of marginalization at the national level.
Hon. Mama Babalanda’s march to parliament may be in its nascent stages but all signs are that the people of Budiope West have embraced her wholeheartedly — she’s therefore justified to thank the Lord Almighty!!
