DIVORCE FILES! World Food Program boss, Ugandan wife in bitter split

By Our Reporter

Mats Patrick Persson says he is unable to excel performing his statutory duties as the World Food Program (WFP) Deputy Country Director for Uganda because of too many marital woes which have deprived him of peace and sleep inside his palatial home in Kigo off Entebbe Road. Persson blames all this trauma, which he says has caused him untold agony, stress, mental regret & decline in workplace productivity, on a gorgeous Ugandan babe called Annette Kalemba with whom he fathers Emil Persson, his only son, aged 14 years.

Persson, who has since abandoned the Kigo home to find some comfort in city hotels and friends’ homes, has been married to Annette Kalema for the last 16 years having customarily taken her on as a wife on 15th January 2006. At that time, Persson was a well-earning spinster with a very good expatriate UN job in Kampala. The job entitled whoever became his official wife to bagging a monthly “dependent allowance” of $6,760 (roughly Shs20m in Ugandan currency). The same very generous UN/WFP employment contract equally entitled whoever became Persson’s child to a monthly “child allowance.”

For the first seven (7) years, things went very well until 2013 when irreconcilable differences broke out, resulting into frequent quarrels and fights, prompting Persson to flee their matrimonial home located in the Kigo residential neighborhood of Kitiko Mutungo (Wakiso district) off Entebbe Road where the couple owns plenty of real estate property (comprised of 5 very large plots of land including one on which the matrimonial house stands). Persson justified his decision to flee the home on Annette Kalemba’s alleged endless demands for money coupled with repeated messages sent on his phone that would be containing threats, abusive language, nude pictures and threats of public humiliation (since he is a public figure and big man in the UN system in Uganda).

In his divorce petition filed in the Family Division of the High Court of Uganda (particularized as Divorce Cause No. 103 of 2019), Persson asserts that Kalemba’s mal-conduct resulted into sexual deprivation which pushed him into enduring endless “mental anguish, emotional and psychological torture.” He adds that the worthlessness he began feeling, as a result of Kalemba’s unbecoming conduct, prompted him to conclude she was no longer fit to be his wife or someone he could continue living with hence the physical separation which he wants Court to sanctify by dissolving their marriage and granting them divorce so that they each move on with life.

The UN diplomat also reveals that Kalemba’s decision to involve their young son into her feuds with him left him with no option but to conclude the marriage relationship had irretrievably broken down and that nothing could ever be done to salvage the same. That he fled home because he was no longer efficient at WFP, where he works as Deputy Country Representative, because of the extreme stress at home. He further explains that his absence from the Kigo home, where he optionlessly abandoned both Kalemba and his son Emil Persson, has exposed the child to a lot of material deprivation as the jobless mother (Kalemba) has no means to materially provide for him anymore.

That sometimes, the child misses school, something his teachers have been writing to both parents about indicating that the same will affect his future because of missed learning opportunities. In her reply, Annette Kalemba explains to Court that she is in all this financial deprivation, constraining her from adequately providing for her son, because Mats Patrick Persson (who she describes as a very bad person) discontinued the $6,760 (roughly Shs20m) which she used to earn monthly from his employer UN/WFP as spousal or ‘dependent allowance.’

She explains to the Court that from the time this monthly allowance was discontinued, her accumulated arrears have grown to $850,000 (roughly Shs2bn) which Persson must be compelled to pay up through the Court system. She further claims that even Emil’s allowance as a child, fathered by a man fully employed by the UN, hasn’t been coming and wants Persson to equally account for the same because the child’s allowance, just like hers, is well provided for in his employment contract at UN/WFP.

In imploring Court not to only grant divorce but also allow him full custody of the child, Persson contends that under Annette Kalemba’s custody, the young man has been exposed to ghetto life (living in dirty and bushy surroundings) which isn’t good for his physical and emotional welfare which family law is in place to guarantee and ensure. He attaches pictures of the totally deprived ghettoes where his son is being condemned to live and stay, a thing that compromises the quality of his health. The two also fault each other of using sectarian and abusive language towards each other-sent via phone and email-even after physical separation.

Gratefully, Annette Kalemba agrees to the requested divorce saying she equally acknowledges it’s no longer possible to continue living as Persson’s wife because of his anomalous character whose graphic details she promises to illustrate to Court once the hearing of the divorce petition commences. They each claim to have emails and phone messages to prove the alleged cruelty and degrading treatment. Describing each other as incapable of and unfit to take good care of Emil, the couple implores Court to grant full custody of the child to the exclusion of the other (only allowing scheduled visitations to the child).

The only issue that is complicating matters are the terms under which the divorce and the resultant decree nisi should be granted. They each want full custody of the child and a larger share of the property. Saying the 5 properties at Kigo/Mutungo Kitiko was solely accumulated by him (during the time of subsistence of their marriage), Persson implores Court to allow him retain 70% of the entire estate with Annette Kalemba (mother of his 14 year old son) staying with 30%.

In her cross petition, Annette Kalemba claims she developed these properties alone and long before she even met Persson. That she had everything acquired and that the UN diplomat only made modest financial contributions towards the completion of the properties’ development. She is suggesting to retain 60% while offering him a paltry 40%. They are both vowing to adduce documentary evidence before Court during trial to illustrate their claim. Annette Kalemba is also relying on one Moses Musinguzi as a very important witness to corroborate many of her claims before Court.

She also wants the Court to compel Persson to pay up the $850,000 in her accumulated monthly ‘dependent allowances’ [arrears] which she must continue earning since the same remains part of his employment contract at the UN/WFP Kampala Ugandan office (attaches a copy of the contract). She also wants him to be compelled to continue providing for the child’s maintenance expenses. Once all these disputed matters are resolved, Annette Kalemba implores Court to immediately dissolve “such a disastrous marriage” which she says “has made her hate life.”

She also states in her affidavit that she is so remorseful ever getting into such a marriage (calls it a mess) and begs “Allah for forgiveness.” She is a Muslim while Mats Patrick Persson, a Swedish national, is a devout Christian. Details on the Court file indicate that whereas the petitioner (Persson) is represented by M/s Mbeeta, Kamya & Co Advocates; the respondent (Annette Kalemba) is ably represented by Counsel Annet Nanfuuma Opedum of Kamwokya Media Plaza-based Lukwago & Co Advocates.