M7 Jailed & Forgoten: The Prison Nightmare That Nearly Ended His Journey

History is written by the victors, but sometimes, the truth slips through the cracks, carried by those who lived it.

In Joan Kategaya’s memoir, Reflections of Resilience, a gripping tale unfolds, one that begins with a knock on the door in the dead of night and ends in the cells of a foreign prison. Among the detainees was a young Yoweri Museveni, a man who would later shape Uganda’s destiny.

According to the new vision, it was the early morning of March 1973. The first light of dawn had not yet broken when the sound of heavy footsteps echoed through the stairwell of the Deluxe Hotel in Dar es Salaam.

Joan Kategaya, her husband Eriya, their infant son Julius, and their nanny were asleep when the loud knock came. As Eriya opened the door, armed men barged in, shouting in Kiswahili, “Toka nje, nyote, get out, all of you.”

Joan, still drowsy, clutched her baby and looked at the faces of the other Ugandan exiles being rounded up. Among them was Yoweri Museveni, then just a political activist, along with Augustine Ruzindana, Maumbe Mukwana, and others.

The Tanzanian authorities gave no explanations. Joan remembered asking repeatedly why they were being arrested, but all she got were sharp commands to remain silent. They were herded outside, shoved into jeeps, and driven at high speed to the Central Police Station in Dar es Salaam.

Museveni, a man who would later become Uganda’s longest-serving president, was now just another prisoner, sitting on a cold floor with uncertainty hanging over him like a dark cloud.

At the station, the detainees were separated. Joan and the women were kept in a different section while the men, including Museveni, Eriya, and Maumbe, were locked in the basement cells.

The days dragged on without answers. Julius, just a baby, fell ill, vomiting uncontrollably. Meanwhile, Maumbe’s mother, convinced that her son and the others had been executed, became hysterical. Her cries echoed through the corridors.

In the chaos, Joan was mistakenly thought to be mentally unstable and was taken to Muhimbili Hospital, where she found unexpected help in a Ugandan nurse who recognized her.

Back at the station, Museveni and the other men languished in their cells. The days turned into weeks. The detainees had no idea what fate awaited them. Unknown to them, their arrest had been orchestrated by some Tanzanian officials in the absence of President Julius Nyerere, who was on an official visit to Germany. It was only upon his return that the matter was brought to his attention. Shocked and angered, Nyerere ordered their immediate release.

Joan recalled the moment of freedom vividly. One morning, a smiling officer arrived with the news. “You are all free to go. You can reside anywhere in Tanzania,” he said. Within 45 minutes, Museveni, Eriya, and the others were released. They walked out, physically free but carrying the emotional scars of their imprisonment.

The events of those two weeks left an indelible mark on everyone involved. For Museveni, it was a moment that reinforced the harsh realities of political struggle.

For Joan and Eriya, it was another chapter in a long journey of survival. The night of their arrest had begun like a nightmare, but in the end, resilience won. Museveni walked out of jail and into history, a path that would lead him to the highest office in the land.