Mwenda apologises to Ssenfuka, as Museveni defends herbalist’s cancer drug dev’t

Renowned herbalist David Ssenfuka has responded to journalist Andrew Mwenda’s claims that he was trying to con President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni into funding the development of his cancer and diabetes medicine.

In an exclusive interview with The Observer, Ssenfuka wondered how “a supposedly serious person” of Mwenda’s stature would make such wild allegations without first seeking to understand the project he says has been around for 11 years.

“I have never met Andrew Mwenda, but I have heard of him, and all along I thought he was a serious journalist, but what he wrote showed that he is not a serious person. How can you write about me like that without first talking to me to have an independent mind on whether I’m a conman or not? This makes me think that he is being used by somebody else, to frustrate this project. I’m currently trying to make consultations including with my lawyers and see how to substantially respond,” Ssenfuka said.

In an article published on Mwenda’s The Independent magazine website under the headline, “When old age strikes a leader”, Mwenda claimed that people are taking advantage of President Museveni’s advanced age to make government fund fictious business proposals.

Museveni will be 82 years old later this year. Among the people that Mwenda listed as taking advantage of the president are Ssenfuka, Mathias Magoola of Dei Bio Pharma, Amina Hersi of Atiak Sugar and Nelson Tugume of Inspire Africa Coffee.

“Now Ssenfuka is not a businessman. I have talked to the people who know him, and without exception, they have told me that he is actually a conman. Besides, they have added, this great Ssenfuka is, in fact, not an educated man; he has perhaps completed primary school only.

But like all conmen, he has great wit and knows best how to sell stuff…Museveni bought the story and ordered the government to find billions for Ssenfuka to build his pharmaceutical plant in Uganda. Some people tried to dissuade the president against throwing public money at this scam, but he wouldn’t listen. Ssenfuka’s claim may soon be cashed,” Mwenda wrote in his article.

In response to this claim, Ssenfuka said he has never sought to fraudulently get money from the president. That, in fact, the idea of government funding the development and production of cancer and diabetes drugs in Uganda was that of the president in his desire to add value to the medicine before exporting it.

“This research has been around for 11 years and many people have benefited from it. I have had all manner of people who have used this medicine and have publicly given testimonies; these are verifiable.

I have never gone to the president to ask for money; I went to see him for other things related to outside funding. But he was very happy with the work I was doing and said the country had interest in it.

I had brought investors here to help me develop this medicine, because I have sunk into this project a lot of my personal resources and they have proven insufficient. The President objected to the project going into the hands of foreigners. He said the government through the Ministry of Science and Technology can assist people like me develop this medicine because it is a national treasure,” Ssenfuka said.

Ssenfuka also wondered that if indeed he was a conman like Mwenda alleges, what explains the intervention from senior citizens – his former patients – seeking government help on his behalf.

“Of course, calling me a conman does not make me one. But, does Mwenda mean to say that very important people who have actually written to the government of Uganda and the government of the United States of America, wanting this medicine to be developed are also conmen?

How can I enlist distinguished senior citizens like former Chief Justice Wako Wambuzi, Prof Ddumba-Ssentamu, Justice John Bosco Katutsi, Owek. Joseph Mulwanyammuli Ssemwogerere, former MP Kasole Lwanga Bwerere, among others, in a fictious project?

These people have worked so hard for their names; what can you offer them in their retirement to put them on the line if they did not think this is a genuine project? So, I think it is important for people like Mwenda to first understand this project before slandering me,” Ssenfuka said.

Ssenfuka’s response follows a weekend rebuttal from President Museveni against Mwenda’s claims. Like Ssenfuka, Museveni wondered how Mwenda can make such wild claims without first speaking to Ssenfuka and others concerned.

“You are supposed to be a journalist. Why [don’t you] interview these “conmen” such as Magoola, Ssenfuka, etc? They are here in Uganda. They are where you can reach them and even the assets they have put on the ground. Visit Magoola’s factories in Matugga and Kamuli. Interview People who testify that they were cured by Ssenfuka’s mixture of herbs.

Visit Tugume’s factory in Ntungamo. Visit Professor Muranga’s banana project in Bushenyi. You are ashamed and you dare not talk about the Kiira Motors because that is a shamer of the neo-colonial agents like Mwenda. The Do-nothingers like Andrew Mwenda, always running around noisily telling lies, claim to save government money from loss-making projects.

Yet, they happily cohabit peacefully and gleefully with the neo-colonial status quo of confining Africa to producing and exporting unprocessed raw-materials where we lose so much value,” Museveni wrote in his four- page response to Mwenda’s article.

In his subsequent article of May 25, Mwenda acknowledged that he was wrong to call Ssenfuka a conman without first seeking to talk to him or the people who claim they have been healed by his herbal medicine.

“My second mistake, which is a legitimate criticism the president raised: why judge people without talking to them, visiting their factories and getting to hear their side of the story?

The president made a very valid point. I have not visited and interviewed Ssenfuka and Magoola, and yet I called them conmen and witch doctors. As a journalist who believes in the principle of fairness and balance, and as a person who believes in the principle of natural justice (do not judge a person without hearing their side of the story), again, I was professionally and personally wrong and unfair to the people I criticized.

So, I want to apologize to the President and also to Magoola and Ssenfuka. I was unfair to them when I called them conmen and witch doctors. It is utterly unjustified to insult someone that way. In fact, that framing undermines the policy argument I was making.

Besides, I always advise young people that we can disagree without being disagreeable. I feel bad that I wrote in such a bad language, like a NUP activist, rather than a journalist and an intellectual that I aspire to be,” Mwenda said.

He offered to look for Ssenfuka and some of the people who have used his herbal medicine to understand them before passing judgment.

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