Ugandan Scholar Blasts Museveni, Wife for Failing To Provide Free Sanitary Pads

Stella Nyanzi, a Ugandan scholar and lecturer at Makerere University, blasted President Yoweri Museveni and his wife, First Lady Janet, for failing to provide school girls with sanitary pads as he promised in his last election campaign.

Mrs. Museveni, who is also the Education minister, told parliament in an earlier address that her ministry was unable to secure the funds to fulfill the President’s campaign promise of providing sanitary pads to school children starting with the coming financial year, according to BBC.

In an expressive Facebook post packed with strong language, Nyanzi slammed the First Lady’s announcement and described it as shameless:

Women’s month compels me to speak again against the shamelessness with which Janet Kataaha Museveni declared in the house of parliament that Uganda government lacks money to provide poor girls with sanitary pads so that they don’t miss school during their menstruation.

In the same post she referred to President Museveni as a dictator, adding that he “lied [to] poor Ugandans during his presidential campaigns about giving sanitary pads to their daughters.”

Nyanzi’s Facebook tirade promptly earned her an invitation from the office of Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID) in the capital, Kampala, where was interrogated for several hours behind closed doors before she was finally let go by police.

Reports say on her release, Nyanzi was greeted by a small crowd of supporters that included rights activists, journalists, and opposition politicians.

Speaking to journalists, Nyanzi said the police invited her for questioning because Mr. Museveni found her posts on social media offensive, “How can the President say that he was offended by my comments?” she asked.

“The President always offends me with his world; should he be summoned here as well and interrogated?”

Nyanzi, a respected research fellow at Makerere University Research Institute, is one of the most vocal critics of President Museveni who has ruled Uganda since 1986.

Her posts on social media often are expletive-ridden and controversial, galvanizing the opposition and taking Museveni’s government to task on several occasions.

She is also behind #PadsforUganda, where she has raised $2,115 of her $10,000 goal for school girls who are often exposed to unhygienic and embarrassing predicaments due to the lack of sanitary napkins in and out of school.