We are fleeing from the high maintenance girl

BY DENNIS D. MUHUMUZA

I was chatting with an OB I had not seen in a while. He asked when I was planning to get married, and I confessed that I am determined to put a ring on it this year. “I hope your woman is not a high-maintenance girl,” my friend said. “Those ones are not marriage-material; they should be avoided like a scandal!”
It struck me that I had heard the expression “high-maintenance girl” (hereafter called HMG) before but didn’t have a true picture. So, I run to my Facebook friends for elucidation, and gosh the things they said about HMGs!

My colleague Daudi even extracted a meaning for me from urban dictionary. It says a HMG is one who has expensive taste (on the man’s account, of course!), is constantly concerned about her appearance, feels she is hotter than most girls, and usually judges others based on outward appearance.

This was put in proper perspective by Herbert who said the HMG expected her man to have an exclusive weekend budget to the tune of millions because she has to shop at high-end places like Forest Mall, go for a Shs200,000-movie at The Hub, tell you to park at some posh salon and wait on her while the hairdresser works magic on her hair, does her manicure, pedicure, massage, and facial makeover. Meanwhile, you are still waiting for her!

Then, Lauryn said the quickest way to spot a HMG is to look at how high her heels are: “If they are past two inches, run for your life!” It’s with these filthy-expensive spike heels that she announces her presence as they clang on the tiles and make heads turn.

Even more, a HMG never holds one phone for long. Peter says when she asks if it is okay to give away her I-phone to her “Baby Sis” because she heard the Samsung S4 takes better pictures, she is the one!
When KFC, which sells chicken in bucket-fulls hit town, HMGs immediately dumped other chicken hangouts for KFC. “To them,” says Dan, “the chicken from other restaurants is usually diseased!”
In short, according to Kenneth, the HMG is one who “takes more money out of your wallet than you can put in!”

Interestingly, men love hanging out with these girls even when they pay through the nose for their company. Yet, they avoid them when looking for wives. Most girls that are labelled by the press as “beautiful but unlucky” are often HMGs.

“Many men would really love to hang around a HMG but when the marriage equation comes in, it becomes a different situation altogether,” Dan explains. “You probably want to hang around with this suave chic, but deep inside you are thinking that if you got married and you hadn’t built a house, she would want you to rent a posh flat or upscale house of Shs2m a month.”

Miriam also has an inkling why HMGs cannot make wives: “They usually look good all the time, the reason you can never eat supper at home since she can’t wash the dishes.”

Sound off : Does being high maintenance necessarily mean not marriage material?
“That is just something girls use to set a standard for who should approach them. We just play with the man’s ego and confidence. Even when they get married, they try to maintain that standard. We should remember though that when a girl loves a man, they usually are not materialistic. There is a possibility of marrying a relatively low standard man. If love is not the reason for marriage, though, money shall talk then.
Bridget Bamulinde, Data Entrant, MTN

“They need money to be happy, always hard to please. Basically annoying. I would say typical high maintenance women are not marriage material. However, there are women who are high maintenance at their own expense (the financially independent).
Agnes Akello, Statistician 

“They are definitely marriage material, if you can afford them. And all guys deserve one because she motivates you to earn. Usually, such girls are actually capable of taking care of themselves. Because if you want something, you will earn it. People that judge them are those that get comfortable living the low life. They only want to live the life she deserves.
Sheila Atukei, University student 

--Saturday Monitor, January 25, 2014

He dropped out of school for 18 years

He has fought for every drop of greatness in him. Without a transcendent desire to acquire university education and the resolve never to give up, he would not be who he is today, writes Dennis D. Muhumuza

It is said some people are born great and others have greatness thrust upon them. But Rwabatongore Rweishe has fought for every drop of greatness in him. Without a transcendent desire to acquire university education and the resolve never to give up, he would not be who he is today, seeking to represent the people of Rubabo County in parliament in 2016. 

Mr. Rweishe is eying the Rubabo County parliamentary seat in 2016

For 18 years, Rwabatongore deferred his dream because of circumstances beyond his control. The first obstacle struck in 1983 when he completed primary school. His father told him that was enough education since he could now write his name and speak some English. 

“As heir apparent you must stay home and learn to be a responsible man when I’m gone,” said Rweishe’s father, shattering his son’s dream. His parents Elnest and Joselyn Rwabatongore of Nyakabungo village, Buyanja, Rubabo County, Rukungiri District, did not want their only child out of their sight. They reasoned that there was no need for him to study more since they had enough wealth to give him a comfortable life.

Rweishe kept home for nine years, but never gave up cajoling his parents to let him return to school. In 1992, his father relented and sent him to the nearby Nyabutete Secondary School. Rwabatongore,20, was the oldest student in Senior One with a moustache already forming . 

Soon Rweishe won over fellow students with his outgoing personality and eloquence. He was appointed the Chairman School Council and became a vibrant student leader who was not afraid of confronting irresponsible teachers.

“I once asked a drunken teacher what precedent he was setting by being drunk,” he says adding, “The teacher later became my friend and interested me more in politics by telling me that John F. Kennedy had eight brains and had not even used half of them by the time he was assassinated in 1963.” 

It stirred in Rweishe the belief that to be a great leader you must be very intelligent and knowledgeable. He started reading everything he could find about exemplary leaders. 

“I was profoundly stirred by Kennedy’s challenge to fellow Americans asking what they can do for their country instead of asking what their country could do for them.”

Since then, Rweishe vowed to serve his country as president one day. He began by sharing what he read with the wanainchi to empower them. When he completed O-Level in 1996 at the age of 24, he joined Universal High School in Kampala because it was easier to access books and vital information in the city.

But tragedy struck in 1998 just after Rweishe had completed high school. His father died. Being an only child, he shelved his university plans and stayed home for another nine years comforting his mother and taking care of their home. 

In 2007, at the age of 35, Rweishe applied and was admitted to Kampala International University for a Bachelor of Arts in Public Administration on the long-distance scheme. This gave him the flexibility to take care of his three children while he studied. He had married and had a child those days he stayed at home at the urging of his parents. But as fate would have it, his wife had died after their third child, and Rweishe chose not to marry again until all his children are grown up and independent. 

At the time he was studying for his degree, Rwabatongore also pursued a diploma in Mass Communication at the Uganda Institute of Business and Media Studies, as well as a certificate in Administrative Law at the Law Development Centre (LDC). 

He is so concerned with using his discoveries to empower the larger community in Rubabo County where he moves from home to home teaching them how to increase their produce and earn income for self-substance and for investment. 

As a farmer and cattle keeper’s son who was raised on the farm, he understands agriculture and animal husbandry and argues that these sectors alone have the capacity to eradicate poverty, unemployment and boast the Ugandan economy. He showed me a 50-page manuscript titled ‘15-Point Program for National Development’ in which he articulates things that can transform this country from the grassroots and keep it on the economic growth curve.  

"Uganda’s arable land of 5200000 hectares’ produces 610000 metric tones of banana but most of these bananas are not being processed to benefit the economy on a grander scale,” says Rwabatongore. He proposes an Act of Parliament that will establish the Ministry of Food Processing to advance food processing and production. He also wants the government to open an agricultural bank where farmers may get loans to improve and increase their output.

Rwabatongore is passionate about his ideas on empowerment and transformation. He reels off statistics with the adroitness of a professor to back his arguments. He accuses the current Rubabo Country MP Paula Turyahikayo of being a politician rather than a servant of those who elected her, which is why he has chosen to take her on in 2016. 

“A politician is concerned about his lofty office and the allowances he gets while a servant always touches base with those he represents and collects their ideas for implementation,” Rwabatongore explains. “As Jesus said, a great leader must be a great servant.” 

--Sunday Monitor, January 19, 2014

2014 promises to be a better literary year

It appears most writers’ major resolution this year is to release more books and continue to grow the industry to high standards, writes Dennis D. Muhumuza

The excitement that comes with the folding of the year (2013) and the unfolding of the new one (2014), has not spared Uganda’s literature fraternity either. The writers’ major resolution is to release more books in this year and continue to grow the industry to high standards.

The death of literary guru Chinua Achebe in March 2013 was seen as the coming down of the curtain on the old-school writers, whose works have dominated the industry for decades, and the beginning of the real shining of a new generation of African writers whose works are enjoying rave reviews worldwide.

Setting the pace is Nigerian author Chimamanda Adichie, 35, whose newest book, Americanah, is a must-read in 2014. When Adichie released Half of a Yellow Sun after her first novel, Purple Hibiscus, she was described by Chinua Achebe as “A new writer endowed with the gift of ancient storytellers.” No doubt her star will continue to twinkle this year.

In my opinion, however, NoViolet Balawayo of Zimbabwe is better than Adichie, and if you haven’t read any of her works, you must do so this year. If you are looking for one African novel to read this year, I recommend We Need New Names, which made the 2013 Man Booker Prize shortlist, making Balawayo the first black African woman and Zimbabwean to make it there.

For the non-fiction lovers, you must not miss The Hero Within, the autobiography of Dr Jane Kengeya Kayondo. Released in November last year, this is a brutally honest odyssey of her life from poverty to becoming the first Ugandan woman epidemiologist, and the first to study Aviation Medicine. The autobiography also inadvertently serves as a commentary on Uganda’s politics, especially in the 1970s. A must-read, I tell you.

Last year saw the launch of Writivism, an initiative aimed at spotting and nurturing new writing talent. The participants were taken through mentoring process and wrote short stories, which were published in the local press. The finest of those have been anthologised as Picture Frames and Other Stories. The initiative is continuing from where it stopped, and this time is involving the rest of Africa.

Last year's Writivism participants

According to Brian Bwesigye, the brain behind the programme, they have already received 120 applications from emerging writers across the continent. Ten training workshops will be held; two in each of the countries of Uganda, Kenya, Nigeria, Zimbabwe and South Africa. It is in these workshops that the emerging writers will be paired with writing mentors and a short-story prize will be introduced. Such initiatives are timely in positioning the emerging African writer to relay the African story with experimentalism never before imagined.

The Uganda Female Writers Association (Femrite) also continues in pushing the woman writer into the arena of excellence. Just last year, Femrite launched African Violet and Other Stories, an anthology of 15 stories, including the five short-listed for the 2012 Caine Prize at an event in Kampala attended by the 2012 Caine Prize winner, Rotimi Babatunde. This is an anthBombay’s Republic, and Beatrice Lamwaka’s Pillar of Love.
ology worth reading for its exceptional variety, including Babatunde’s hilarious hit,

Uganda’s literary industry, though still held back by low participation in local prizes, and blinded by the search for western/outside approval by the writers themselves, will perform way better this year than it did in 2013.

--Saturday Monitor, January 4, 2014

Dancing, rejoicing and worshipping

As the world waits for the midnight hour that will usher in 2014, millions of believers will be reaching out to God, writes Dennis D. Muhumuza

On the night of December 31, Makerere Full Gospel Church, the first Pentecostal church in Uganda and its sister churches in the city, will gather at Makerere University main sports ground for an overnight service and celebration of the end of the year. The story will be the same in many other venues around the country as churches have made it a custom to end the year with an all-night spiritual jamboree characterised with hyperactive performances from the best gospel musicians, dancers, actors and comedians, complete with plangent fireworks.

Pr. Fred Wantaate at the pulpit with a mic leads church members in prayer

Long gone are the days when such events were left to the secular world with multitudes cramming sports venues like Namboole and Nakivubo stadiums to be entertained by musicians. Others would gather in strategic spots with a panoramic view of the city, to watch the fireworks. According to Ivan Wobusobozi of Redemption City Church, evangelical and Pentecostal leaders of more than 1,500 churches in Uganda, have adopted popular ways of ushering in the New Year, but retained the spiritual and transformational angles without taking away the fun and excitement.

But how important are such overnights? According to Pastor Fred Wantaate, the senior pastor of Makerere Full Gospel Church, the last day of the last month in a year is special in the lives of many people for it signals an end to a season and announces the beginning of a new season.

“For many Ugandans it is time to congratulate themselves for having “survived” another year. It is therefore in order for them to celebrate and thank God for enabling them to go through another year,” says Pr. Wantaate. “It is also time to rededicate oneself for next season in prayer, set goals and make resolutions. It is a time to be spiritually recharged and rebooted for the next journey of 12 months. Ugandans repent and pray for their leaders and families.”

Unlike last year’s overnight which focused on prayer, this year’s event has been dubbed a family affair where parents and children will feast on food, tea and cake, with fireworks display to last at least five minutes. There will be no long brimstone sermons admonishing congregants to live pure lives in the next year lest they perish. Rather ordinary Christians will testify of the goodness of the Lord, according to the cleric.

And in line with the night’s theme, “Praise Precedes Victory”, emphasis will be on celebration and thanksgiving with lots of music and dance. The theme is drawn from 2 Chronicles 20 in which King Jehoshaphat is led by God to respond to the fear of imminent destruction with praise and worship. He received a revelation that spiritual worship is the ultimate ambush against Satan and all his designs. And when the king and his men marched to war singing and praising God, the Lord set an ambush against the men of Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah, and they were so defeated that it took three days for Jehoshaphat and his people to carry away the spoil from the battlefield which they baptised the Valley of Blessings.

“Many Ugandans are facing the unknown; the future is littered with serious physical, financial, marital, economic and career challenges. But just like Israel, we must turn our fears and doubts into spiritual praise and overcome our challenges even before we enter the New Year,” Pr. Wantaate says.

May God bless you in the New Year.

--Sunday Monitor, December 29, 2013

Teaching children of Uganda’s presidents

Go-getter: An outstanding educationist, loving mother and wife, Mary Mulumba has left her footprints in the lives of many in her journey of life, writes DENNIS D. MUHUMUZA

She has had the privilege of teaching the presidents’ children, but most remarkable about the life of Mary Mulumba is how she rose from being a nursery teacher to owning one of the most prominent urban primary schools in Uganda- Kampala Junior Academy (KJA).

Her big brother, Samuel Baddokwaya, believes his sister’s success has much to do with God’s favour and hard work. He still remembers a prayer she said at a Chr

Mary and her husband

istian gathering when they were still very little: “‘Me Mary, please God help me, Amen!’ And sincerely God has helped her ever since, because no one in our family has achieved as much as she has.”

Mulumba was born in Mengo Hospital, on Christmas day in 1941, the second of Rev. Canon Yakobo Gabunga Baddokwaya and Ruth Baddokwaya’s eight children. Her father was a teacher and schools inspector before he became a full-time minister serving in the Church of Uganda.

She remembers that their home in Busega was always full of born-again Christians and members of Mothers Union who often came for prayer and fellowship. She says they taught her to pray and sharpened her interpersonal relations and communication skills.

“I also learnt a lot from my father who often took me along with him to visit his friends, inspect schools and supervise some church projects. It was his way of teaching me hard-work and protecting me from bad influences by keeping an eye on me,” she says.

Attaining an education
Mulumba grew up at a time when the education of girls was not prioritised. Luckily, her father had a different perspective and educated all his children regardless of their sex. His mantra to his children was: “Get educated, work hard and look forward to a better future.”

When she joined Primary One at Buloba Primary School, she vowed never to disappoint her father. By the time Mulumba completed Primary Eight, she knew what she wanted to be. In 1957, she joined Ndejje Teacher Training College. She was impressed by how the college Principal, an English lady named Drakely, combined motherliness with toughness. This is the woman she aspired to be like when she left college in 1960 as certified primary school teacher.

Mulumba immediately got her first job at Mengo Girls School. Then something exciting quickly happened – she met the man of her dreams.

The love of her life
Daniel Mulumba had just returned from UK with a degree in Accounting. He was a tall, handsome man. At 25 then, he was suave, collected and a proud owner of a white VW car to complete his stature as the most eligible bachelor then.

At the time, it was prestigious for a young man of Daniel’s age to own a car. So when his mother asked him to drive her to Lweza on Entebbe Road to attend a meeting for born-again Christians, he agreed out of the love and respect for his mother, but also to show off his prized car! This turned out to be one of his best decisions because it is at that meeting that he met Mary, a dazzling 19-year-old beauty fresh from college.

Mary weds Dan in December 1960

A leaf from her journal of the time reads: “In 1960, I met a wonderful, educated, simple and quiet man called Dan Mulumba. We fell in love straight away!” They were married the same year, on December 17, 1960, at Namirembe Cathedral.

After the wedding, the couple moved to Mugongo, near Kyengera on Masaka Road. Four months after their wedding, Dan was offered a job in the Ministry of Finance and moved to Entebbe. Mary had to move back to her parents’ home at Busega in order to keep her job at Mengo Girls School. Later, she joined Daniel in Entebbe and got a job there at Namate Primary School where she taught for three years.

A great opportunity
In 1964, Mulumba was offered a scholarship by the Uganda government to pursue further studies at Stranmillis College in Northern Ireland. She was a young wife of 24 with a husband and three little children, but at the urging of her husband, she accepted the scholarship, and for three years, specialised in Infant Methods.

“Children found me so strange because they were not used to seeing black people,” she recalls. “One child wetted her finger and rubbed it on my arm to see if my skin was made of soil.”

When she returned in 1967, she got a job at Lake Victoria Primary School in Entebbe, as the head of its nursery section. This was a prominent school of mostly expatriate children. Mulumba became its first and only African teacher.

After three years, she was posted to Nakasero Primary School, where she stayed for a year before being appointed the first African Headmistress of Kampala Kindergarten in 1970. This was a school for diplomats and upper class families of the time. The school was located near State House. In the 23 years Mulumba worked there, she taught the presidents’ children from Obote, Amin to Museveni.

She managed to go through the volatile 1970s unscathed, considering many professionals fled the terror and dictatorship of Amin. Mulumba avoided politics. This and prayers, she believes, is what saved her and kept the school operating throughout those perilous times. She had learnt from her father that in life, if one is to make a difference, they must be willing to take risks and make tough sacrifices.

Life begins at 52
Mulumba’s success at Kampala Kindergarten attracted criticism from individuals who started making slighting remarks about her age and how it was time she moved on. She pondered the situation, and in 1993 decided to resign. She was 52 years with no idea that her life would never be the same again.

After combining her savings with her husband’s, Mulumba hired an old building on Clement Hill Road from which she started Kampala Junior Academy. Mulumba believes in the success formula of ‘Think Big, Start Small and Grow Big’ which enabled her to avoid loans and move forward patiently. She started with only nine children, but before a year elapsed, the number had risen to 200, thanks to her credibility.

Herbert Kijjagulwe who has been the Principal of KJA since 1997, says the current location of the school at Yusuf Lule Road was bushy with no clear road. Whenever it rained, muddy puddles would form and cause cars to get stuck. But this did not discourage the parents; they kept bringing their children. Today the road to the school is tarmac, the school has modern storeyed structures,more than 1,000 pupils and employs more than 150 staff. It has grown so that a kindergarten branch has been opened in Ntinda to absorb children from the age of one to four.

Mulumba says: “Three quarters of the pupils in my school are the children of the children I taught in school way back. I’m teaching ‘my’ grand children.”

By 7am, she is already at school, shaking the hand of each of her pupils, greeting each by name and speaking words of affirmation to them. At break-time, they gather around her like bees around nectar, freely playing on her laps, asking questions and telling stories. The warmth on Mulumba’s face says this is a company she would not exchange for anything.

“She is a mother to us teachers too,” Robert Kimuli Kaweesa, a teacher at KJA says of Mulumba’s heart of gold. “On top of ensuring that we get our salaries on time, she is helping us with school fees. We have our children in this school and we pay subsidized fees in small installments. Ms Mulumba is really an angel to us.”

As an educationist of excellence, Mary has won several awards from reputable organisations like Rotary Clubs, Nile Breweries and the Nabaggeka Trust among others. Her biography titled; Woman of Action was launched on December 14, 2013, by Her Royal Highness Sylvia Nagginda, the Nnabagereka of Buganda.

--Saturday Monitor, December 14, 2013

Fathers, don’t abandon your responsibilities

BY DENNIS D. MUHUMUZA

 The recent sex-tape scandals featuring university students left many parents wondering what they must do to stop the bug of promiscuity and shamelessness from sucking their children. Stephen Langa of Family Life Network, says the antidote is in parents, particularly fathers taking up their positions to train their children in the right path and they will not depart from it when they grow up.

Mr Stephen Langa and his wife

The family life counsellor and sexual-purity crusader was the key speaker at a recent Men’s Convention organised by the Men’s Ministry of Makerere Full Gospel Church. Langa says immorality and general corruption is linked to the absence of mentors and true fathers in our society. Materialism has led fathers to relegate the role of parenting to househelps in a bid to make more money.

 “Expensive toys and flat TV screens beaming Cartoon Network 24/7 make children rootless and weak,” Langa said, adding that the role of a father is to raise God-fearing, autonomous, responsible and productive children.

He proceeds to give essentials of true fatherhood that will help the nation to raise responsible children who will protect the moral fibre of the nation. Fathers need to create time from their business and ‘busyness’ for their family. Most of them leave early and return late all week through. And on weekends they are busy talking and watching soccer, and squandering time in bars. Long gone are the days when parents and children used to enjoy the closeness at the dining table as they had supper together. Such days must resurrect. As someone said on Facebook, “If you can find time to make children, you should find time to spend with them.”

Attend visiting days at school, celebrate your children’s birthdays, call a photographer and pose for pictures together and have one-on-one time with each of your children at least thrice a week. And then they will not grow up seeking attention and love which makes them susceptible to wrong elements.

Langa also advises fathers to make conscious decisions to be good fathers.

“It will cost you a lot; it involves self-sacrifice but it is worthwhile,” he says, “It’s the pride of every parent when children grow into responsible citizens who cannot get easily compromised, and with integrity love to play their role in building the nation.”

Fathers, teach children the right path and when they grow up they won't depart from it

He adds that fathers need to discover themselves; know their strengths and resolve weaknesses. This tip is essential to prospective husbands and fathers particularly those who were brought up in broken homes. They don’t want to make the mistake of carrying the baggage of the past into their marriages and loading it onto their wives and children. Part of discovering yourself, says Langa, is accepting who you are, which will give you the confidence to face the responsibilities and challenges that come with fatherhood.

“Do yourself and your children a favour by loving their mother,” Langa advises, adding that when your children know that you love their mother, it gives them inner stability, security, confidence and joy essential for them to perform well in everything they do. A good father should have the discernment to understand the emotional needs of his children.

Langa says some fathers make the common mistake of discriminating against their children depending on their talents and intelligence.

“Children need unconditional love. Speak words of affirmation and always encourage them to give their best because children need a sense of self-worth that comes from seeing you value them.” 

Moreover, 80 per cent of what children know is learnt through observation and imitation. If you curse and handle people roughly and disrespectfully and tell lies, be sure your children are bound to emulate you. Therefore, be everything you want your children to be: honest, hardworking, generous, kind, and all those ideals, well knowing that tough lectures are not effective compared to demonstration.

It is also essential for fathers to get equipped with good parenting tips by attending men’s conventions. Iron sharpens iron, so it takes a man to build another. By learning from each other, they can go a long way. There is also a lot to learn from books on fatherhood and from the internet.

Felix Laiti, father of six confesses that he does his best to talk to his children:  “Whenever I am home, we talk and they have a myriad questions whose answers are not as easy but I answer,” he says. “Talk with rather than talk at or down your children.”

Langa agrees as he advises men to be approachable: “Do not be the type of fathers whose children run away when they enter the sitting room. Hold a conversation with your children, be a good listener and know what their little fears and triumphs are. They love it.” 

Great fathers run their homes using Biblical values and principles. These include love, kindness, honesty, hard work, generosity, patience, forgiveness and related virtues.

“If you apply the positive values given in God’s word,” concludes Langa, “fatherhood will be a blessing.”

--Sunday Monitor, November 24, 2013

Cashing in on arts, cultural opportunities

House of Talent East Africa’s chief executive officer is a performing arts entrepreneur who is making money by nurturing creativity to preserve Uganda’s cultural heritage. He also wants to ensure the transfer of cultural assets and values from one generation to another through expressive cultural arts such as storytelling, writes DENNIS D. MUHUMUZA.

For many would-be entrepreneurs, finding the true profession occurs in the hour of need.
Andrew Lwanga Ssebaggala had never appreciated those words until December 2008 when the donor-funded projects he had been managing under the Uganda Theatre Network (UTN) ended their lifecycle.

Ssebaggala shows off the Award he scooped after his business proposal was voted the best business plan by Private Sector Foundation. Photo by Rachel Mabala.

Instead of pushing the panic button, Ssebaggala established House of Talent East Africa (HOT)—a cultural and performing arts company to create employment and enhance the appreciation of the role of culture in national development.

“I started in January 2009 with about Shs1.2 million which was part of my savings. I used this to hire working space, and buy cultural instruments like a set of drums, xylophone, shakers and a few costumes,” he says.

Ssebaggala then combed for multitalented youths: actors, dancers, instrumentalists, singers, writers, poets, producers and motivational speakers because he was determined to make HOT a one-stop shop for all live arts with tailor-made services where a client would walk in and have all their entertainment needs met. This quickly gave HOT an edge over the competition.

The 33-year-old who holds a Makerere University diploma in Music, Dance and Drama, and a Human Resource Management degree from Makerere University Business School (MUBS) is a city-born whose first job was a bar attendant.

While at Makerere University, he worked as a freelance reporter for Sanyu FM and Radio Maria. He also worked as a general manager for Kingdom FM. He also performed with Abu Kawenja’s Adzido Performers, and taught music, dance and drama in primary and secondary schools during his vacations – which all combined to refine his management and communication skills, giving him vast knowledge of the arts and culture sector.

With that diverse experience and professional expertise, it did not take long for Ssebaggala to win credibility as an arts manager and entrepreneur. He was the manager of this year’s arts projects UMOJA Cultural Flying Carpet Uganda, NUVO Arts Festival and Alfajiri Productions’ Silent Voices.

HOT employs 34 artists who have performed at State, corporate and private functions. This year, the ensemble was the key performer at the National Heroes celebrations in Nakaseke. This elicited a standing ovation, handshake and an ‘envelope’ from President Yoweri Museveni. The group has also performed at local and foreign festivals alongside live bands and world music artistes like Ndere Troupe and Joel Sebunjo, hypnotising foreign and local audiences with live cultural music played on traditional instruments, accompanied by the dances and songs.

Alongside the provision of a complete cultural package from all regions of Uganda, HOT also offers short training in music, dance, drama to individuals, organisations and schools. It has public address/music systems for hire and offers audio and video production services that continue to attract clients in entertainment circles.

 “Today, our business is worth more than Shs300 million as per our latest balanced sheet. Talking of the balance sheet may sound surprising in the arts business, but we audit our books to be professional in all we do,” says Ssebaggala.

Turning point
Ssebaggala’s dictum is ‘Good art makes good money and good money makes good art.’

“So, I always encourage my team to be innovative but remain true to our cultural expectation and authenticity. Quality matters in this business as in any other. We package our artistic products professionally,”
Ssebaggala says. It is no wonder that organisations such as the Certified Public Accountants of Uganda, ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development, State House, Office of the President, Lions Club International, the Cross Cultural Foundation of Uganda, and the Uganda Coffee Federation, among others, have engaged their services for more than three times because they get value for money.

Ssebaggala’s real turning point was when he won the 2010 Start-Your-Business competition organised by the Private Sector Foundation of Uganda. His business proposal was voted the Best Business Plan and won him about Shs126 million ($50,000) which he injected back into HOT.

A year later, HOT got another award during a cultural gala organised by the Uganda National Cultural Centre as the best performing group and the best arts and culture service provider.

Future prospects
Determined to avoid the fate of business founders whose businesses die with them, Ssebaggala sold some shares in his company, but retains the title of chairman and executive director of HOT. He says, “HOT is not a one-man show like other arts organisations, but has shareholders who are directors.”

He shares the model that his company has adopted, “We have devised a robust system and management to operationalise the strategic and business plan of the company. We have a formidable system and clarity of where we want HOT to be and who is responsible for what.”

He is optimistic that in the next seven years (2014 to 2020), the company will have an “artistic centre with professional facilities including a 2,500-seater auditorium, dance studio, art gallery, audio-visual studio, cultural arts library, training rooms, gym, open-air theatre, and housing for resident performers and staff.”
The company will also have the capacity to fully employ at least 50 artistically talented youth as full arts professionals with salaries and not just allowances, well trained in both technical aspects of the arts and business operations.

“We shall also start the plan of opening HOT Centres in the Northern, Eastern, Western and South western parts of Uganda, and finally be among the top 100 tax payers – which will be a wake-up call to government to prioritise arts and culture and invest in it.”

The potential of Uganda’s arts and cultural industry
According to the Ugandan Constitution, the country has 65 tribes to draw from yet Ssebaggala says not even an eighth of these have been tapped. The industry has more than 100 cultural troupes and drama groups, each comprising more than 20 artists, more than 50 direct cultural institutions, many musicians, bands, events companies, production studios, fine artists and craft makers, music, dance and drama teachers.

“This is a big constituency that one cannot take for granted. Cultural industries have the potential to greatly reduce the unemployment problem in Uganda, and improve the livelihood of the marginalised, the poor and the vulnerable,” Ssebaggala says. “Cultural artists also promote all the aspects of our cultural heritage that attract tourists and widen our revenue base. They also play the educational and sensitisation role as they facilitate community action against practices that impinge on human dignity.”

Challenges
Yet the industry is still beset by insufficient skills especially in management and marketing of artistic and entertainment services; lack of all required music equipment, training facilities and transport means plus limited exchange with other professional entertainment groups outside Uganda.

Others include limited access to professional venues for artistic performances; many unregulated entertainment groups; little interest from private business sector; limited access to information on the industry; few theatre schools for further training; non-operational cultural policy and copyright law; insufficient funds allocated for the arts and culture sector all compounded by the poor perceptions on arts and entertainment as a profession.

But who is to blame for the industry’s negative perception? “All the unprofessional acts are rooted in the fact that there is nobody setting the standard for us to follow, strategise and plan for the industry to become robust with well-trained and disciplined artists who respect professional ethics and earn well from the industry,” says Ssebaggala. “We need to know the exact number of the players so that the relevant bodies can plan for the industry.”

Ssebaggala is already setting the precedent for professionalism at HOT by implementing what he describes as “Continuous Professional Development – an important concept in the arts and culture realm.”

It is because of his faith in Uganda’s arts and culture industry and the lack of professional arts managers that Ssebaggala is pursuing a Masters degree in Business Administration (MBA), positioning himself as a professional arts manager.

“I also do a lot of self-education with the bias in the arts and culture since I am now confident that this is my calling and purpose for living,” he says. “All our efforts should revolve around the need to have a higher rank for culture on the national agenda."

--Daily Monitor, Tuesday, November 12, 2013