Life & Style
How office romance turned sour
How office romance turned sour
Martin Kasozi’s relationship with his high school sweetheart Susan was what everyone envied. Although Susan had eloped from school at the young age of 19, and had a child with Martin in her first year at Campus, she constantly reminded her friends how lucky she was to have found a man of her dreams.
Kasozi, who had a well-paying job as a Programmes Manager with one of the top Non-Governmental Organisations in Kampala, was full of praises for his beautiful wife. The duo clearly lived a blissful life. Their romance grew from strength to strength, and the couple had their second child in 2006.
Susan secured her relationship when she introduced Martin to her parents in Namutamba, Mityana district in 2007. The following year, they walked down the aisle in what can only be described as a memorable wedding. The wedding reception at the picturesque Lake Victoria Resort and Spa – located on the shores of Lake Victoria, attracted more 500 guests, whom they served a sumptuous dinner and entertained with a live band.
The couple built an enviable bungalow in a gated housing estate in Nalumunye, Wakiso district from where Kasozi chauffeured to work using the organisation’s car.
In 2009, Susan and Kasozi agreed that she goes back to school so she could finish her degree. Kasozi dully paid for her university education until she graduated from Nkumba University in 2013. Kasozi’s close connections in the NGO world exposed him to so many job opportunities. It didn’t take long before he secured her a job as an Administrative Assistant/Secretary with yet another well-known NGO in Kampala.
Fortunes change
Susan’s transformation from a stay-home-mom to a working woman however coincided with Kasozi’s loss of employment. The organisation with which he was working ran out of money and sacked most of its staff, rendering him jobless.
He nonetheless thanked God for the wisdom and foresight he had received that allowed him to educate his wife. He thought she would become the bread winner for the family and pay bills including school fees for their two children since Kasozi had lost his job.
Susan’s career on the other hand was blossoming quickly. Her UGX2m monthly salary ensured that she could afford a car, nice clothing, jewellery and all the nice stuff she desired. Her natural beauty was further enhanced by the new found financial fortune and the constant obligation to look nice. In the meantime, Kasozi’s efforts in writing proposals yielded nothing.
In Early 2015, Susan bought her first car. It was a timely asset as it helped the couple to transport their two children to school. Susan used to drop to drop the kids at school and her husband in town before proceeding to her workplace in Kamwokya.
Kasozi would stay in town until the evening to be able to pick-up kids from school. Sometimes Susan would come early and give the family a joyful ride back home, and at others, Kasozi and the kids would negotiate Kampala’s jam to the New Taxi park and head home.
As time passed, Susan started returning home late and she didn’t offer any explanation. While Kasozi got used to doing the house chores, ferrying the children from school, Susan’s attitude grew more complex. Kasozi complained that she frequently denied him conjugal rights, claiming that she was too tired.
In the meantime, Kasozi’s friends in Kamwokya where her wife worked, alerted him on news of a steamy relationship between Susan and her boss. He was devastated to say the least. He was even told of a lodge the duo used to frequent. He started cursing why he spent his fortune to take Susan back to school, let alone get her a job.
Kasozi wasn’t content with rumours. He planted spies that pursued her from work through town, right up to the gate of her house. Kasozi’s investment in espionage took time but eventually paid off one evening. He was called by his eagle-eyed team to one of the lodges where Susan had been sighted entering with her boss. He arrived just in time and braced himself for the worst. Kasozi narrated that the sight of his wife strutting out of the lodge felt like a heavy blow in the face. Previous rumours of her wife’s mischief weren’t enough for the shock of his life.
Kasozi restrained himself and didn’t confront the promiscuous couple. He buried his anger and frustration in booze. He knew that sticking around the woman was going to drive him even angrier. He chose to start a farming project on his family land in Luwero. The project got him busy that he eventually made it a full time job. Months passed before Kasozi would come home.
Kasozi’s absence emboldened Susan to bring home her lover. In just six months since Kasozi decided to quit, she was pregnant. Early last year, she gave birth to her baby. But when the news reached Kasozi’s sisters, they launched an operation to uproot her from their brother’s house.
It soon became clear that her misdeeds were going to haunt her very soon. No sooner had she been booted from the house than her boss replaced her with a much younger secretary. She received news of her sacking in an SMS. She also learned rather late that she was the fourth secretary boss was feasting on since the organisation started.
She tried to apologize to Kasozi but in vain. Meanwhile, Kasozi had recovered financially and had started a fresh fruits export business to Europe.
Although Susan’s tale is not unique, Uganda’s culture that vests a lot of power and ownership rights to men always means that women very often suffer more from such transgressions compared to men. Put differently, although men constantly find ‘side dishes’, they rarely do not suffer loss of property the y Susan did.
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