A 22-year-old man in Uganda had his mask blown off after he had been found to be hiding his real identity and pretending to be a woman for a period of three years.
John Mark Bukenya confessed to police officers that he was impersonating women to gain employment favours and earn a living.
Mr Bukenya’s boss and owner of a drinking joint called Muhoro Guest House had given the police detectives a tip-off following numerous complaints from female workers in the joint over the suspicious behaviour of the ‘barmaid’.
Bukenya had reportedly impersonated women in Kabarole District for two years before moving to Kagadi District where he has been impersonating women for the past one year. Kagadi District police boss, Mr Romeo Onek Ojara confirmed the arrest.
At the moment, Bukenya is being held at Kagadi District Police station for further questioning.
An almost similar incident had been reported in Kenya last week, where Hillary Rotich, alias Shieys Chepkosgei, was arraigned in court for impersonating a female nurse at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, Eldoret. Reports say she was impersonating a female nurse at MTRH by the name Pamela Mulupi.
But after nurses got curious and failed to get the real name of the person in the interns’ register, ‘she’ was arrested and taken to Eldoret GK Women Prison on Monday.
Mr Rotich later disclosed to the prison warders in the prison where he was being held that he was indeed a man and not a woman. The warders were blatantly shocked by this revelation.
Rotich had even participated in athletics where he said in court, that in some competitions, he registered as a man and some as a woman.
His actual name is yet to be discovered as his current name is also suspicious.