A Ugandan man has found himself in the grips of the law after he was arrested for impersonating a woman to secure a job. According to the Daily Monitor, 22-year-old John Mark Bukenya, who has for three years been disguising himself as a woman to secure jobs was arrested at Muhorro Rest-house in Muhorro Town Council where he was employed as a barmaid after his female colleagues got suspicious of his demeanor. He was subsequently reported to the owner of the rest house, Mr Charles Mugisa Busigiriko, who alerted the Kagadi District police.
“When I interrogated him, he confessed being a man. I was shocked because he always wore skirts and dresses, necklaces and shoes for ladies,” said Mr Busigiriko.
Mr Romeo Onek Ojara, the Kagadi District Police Commander also spoke about the arrest.
“We are holding him. He confessed being a man biologically much as he prefers being called and treated as a woman,” he said.
The Daily Monitor further reports that Bukenya, during interrogation, confessed to detectives that prior to his arrest in the Kagadi District where he had been impersonating women for a year, he had done same in another district for two years. Bukenya claimed it was easier to get jobs as a woman – something he had mastered overtime.
“When we received him, he was wearing a skirt and a blouse. We asked him whether he needed a trouser and a shirt to dress as a man but said he is comfortable dressing as a woman,” Mr Ojara added.
“He told [sic] that much as he stays with women most of his time, he doesn’t get sexually attracted to them.”
The police are currently deliberating between charging Bukenya for impersonation or handing him over to counsellors for therapy.
This incident comes in the wake of another similar one in Kenya where a man was arrested for impersonating a female nurse with the alias Shieys Chepkosgei at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) last week.
According to The Standard, the impersonator was arrested and arraigned before court after female nurses got suspicious when they realized the purported name wasn’t in the interns’ register.
When he appeared before the court, he also disclosed he had participated in many international marathons registering as female in some of them without being noticed – apparently winning three medals in some of them.
When asked about his orientation, he said he is a man “who associates with the female gender.”
