Inspire Africa serves up a surprise as Season I ends

By DENNIS D. MUHUMUZA

After 14 weeks of intense business tasks and boardroom drama, the first edition of the Inspire Africa reality show that has been showing on NTV every Wednesday and repeats on Sunday, finally reached a grand finale in Kigali last Sunday (April 1).

Clarisee, Inspire Africa Season I winner

The show that hit our small screens in January is only part of the Project Inspire Africa aimed at “identifying the best young business minds in Africa and guiding them through their entrepreneurial cause by providing them with logistical assistance, knowledge and other requisite services to propel them into successful business personalities.”

It was double happiness for the people of Rwanda when their home girl, Clarisse Iribagiza, scooped the $50,000 jackpot as business start-up capital, while the bookmaker’s favourite, Uganda’s Dr Davis Musinguzi was left heartbroken. When the Project CEO Nelson Tugume pronounced the winner, I thought it an April Fool’s Day stunt because I expected Musinguzi to win on account of his stellar performance from the beginning.

Musinguzi was team leader twice and on both accounts helped his team excel. In the first task about humble beginnings, his team was given $40 to buy fruits, add value and make profit. After squeezing and packaging the juice, Davis and team stormed Wandegeya and sold all, their packages, making a profit of over 100 percent, without prior sales experience! The stunning results came from his meticulous planning and dexterous execution. In another task, he led his team to develop a new route and market entry strategy for the new Boeing for Rwanda Air. He convinced the Rwanda Air bosses that Lagos could improve the financial fortunes of the company, and now the airline operates in Nigeria.

At the grand finale, Bobi Wine was asked by the CEO who he thought deserved the money. The singer acknowledged Iribagiza’s leadership skills but said Musinguzi 's brilliance was rare. “Healthcare is a priority in Africa, so Davis deserves the money,” Bobi asserted, alluding to the doctor's Medical Concierge, a company that provides an on-call service of the best medical professionals. The 24-year-old wanted the money to expand the life-saving enterprise.

But what is it about Iribagiza that convinced the uncompromisingly tough CEO that she was the “captain Africa” he was looking for to use the $50,000 to build a business empire that will last? Well, it must have something to do with the girl’s combination of intelligence, confidence and pragmatism.

“It’s tough, rough, harsh business world out there; the faint of heart quit, the weak fall, and only the tough and resilient make it,” the CEO used to say. And to be sure, beneath Iribagiza's charm and loveliness is a shrewd go-getter who at only 22 is already the CEO of HeHe Ltd., a mobile applications development company in Rwanda she founded as a university student. So while Musinguzi is enviably eloquent and assertive, in the end it’s the quiet shrewdness of the software engineer that won over the youthful CEO. That she outsmarted 24 contestants from Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda to make it among the final three including Uganda's Manuel Pacutho as well, was not accidental.

At the grand finale, South African billionaire Graham Power, advised the finalists to cling to hard work, truth, integrity, value and determination to excel and transform the entrepreneur world. The reality show, according to the brain behind it, will enlighten over 50 million people with business practice skills from which 100 successful enterprises are expected to start every year. Mr Tugume is optimistic widespread poverty and unemployment will be history, on top of transforming the African economy through these young business-minded people mentored through Project InspAfrica.

Preparations for Season II are underway, with Burundi and Southern Sudan being added to the participating countries.

--Saturday Monitor April 07, 2012

Fan that Flame

By DENNIS D. MUHUMUZA

When I read Fan that Flame, I was reminded of the boyhood experience of lighting a charcoal stove. After adding the charcoal and a few hot coals, we would point the stove’s mouth in the direction of the wind and let the wind do the fanning till all the charcoal were glowing hot.

And whenever the fire began to wane, we would shake the stove a bit to rid it of the ash, add more raw charcoal and fan with a tray or plastic plate till the coals were alive again and crackling. In the broader sense, Dr Timothy Nduhukire’s inspiration book is about all that; the preparation and fanning it takes to be successful in life’s pursuits. Succinctly, it’s about putting the varied gifts we are endowed with to good use for the cause of the Kingdom of God.

The title is a symbolic call to heed Jesus Christ’s challenge to all men to go to all nations making disciples of all people (Matthew 28). While many look at it as the church’s mandate, you and I must as well get involved to bring the Kingdom of God here on earth portrayed in the Lord’s Prayer.

The author is involved already, considering that on top of being a medical doctor at Kabale Hospital, he’s also a minister of the gospel at Lift Up Jesus Church, where he heads the departments of Radio Evangelism and Discipleship. He is also a conference speaker based in Kabale district from whence he hails, and a husband to one wife, Rachel Luwaga Nduhukire and the father of one son, Joshua Musinguzi, who he is raising to become a responsible citizen.

In the preface, Dr Nduhukire employs the analogy of an army of believers on the battle front, each “fighting as if the outcome of the battle entirely depends on him. This army is such a great force, no longer having enough time to be divided along denominational, cultural or racial lines. They have one message and it is urgent: ‘Jesus saves.’”

In the battle of winning souls; the battle of advancing the Kingdom of God on earth, he argues the point that passion must override everything if we are to win the war against the ills that make this world a dreaded place to live in. Let the combatants infiltrate schools, hospitals, political corridors, factories, banks and homes in every area code winning souls that will help transform a world that is in desperate need of redemption.

Published by Worldwide Harvesters’ Network last year, the 165-page book is broken down in 18 chapters that if summed up come to this: that each one of us has a heritage in God, and indescribable privileges if we quit getting distracted by carnal delights and focus on the things that matter; the things of God, through a daily walk with Jesus Christ as our personal saviour.

He asserts that focusing on God, who is mightier than human limitations is the only way the rootless children of this world; the orphans, the abandoned, the poor, the diseased, the lonely, the unsuccessful, the addicted, the imprisoned, and the guilty will find meaning in life and have some unfailing hope to cling to in spite of their daily tribulations.
Recognising that you’re a child of God, with the DNA of God, the author writes, helps one begin to understand that we have everything we need to do “wonderful deeds and display perfection of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”

As far as books on evangelism get, Fan that Flame is up among the very best in Uganda on account of the author’s entertaining but deeply stirring style. Rebecca Manley Pippert, author of the popular book, Out of the Saltshaker, puts it aptly when she calls Dr Nduhukire’s book “passionate, provocative and prophetic."

--Saturday Monitor, April 07, 2012

Women have a mandate to look good

Even after she has got the ring on her finger, a woman should never give up on looking good. It is in fact the best way to get your man to be what you want him to be; by endeavouring to always look as good as when he met you, writes Dennis D. Muhumuza 

 "God, I love women! The look of a woman, the shape of a woman, the smile of a woman, the voice of a woman, the tenderness of a woman, the motherliness of a woman…God I love women.” That was my Facebook update on Women’s Day, and I meant every word of it. There have been fascinating inventions from the light bulb to the computer to the aeroplane but nothing beats the woman.

Beautiful ladies like these should work harder and stay in shape for their men and for the sake of their relationships 

Men are known for their toughness but when a woman you love looks you in the eyes and dishes out that killer smile, you can do anything in the world for her! And no, I’m not a hopeless romantic. I’m just a realist telling you men love women! Most of my friends are women. And on Women’s Day, I spent the day telling them what fascinating creatures they are. And when I discovered the celebration of womankind would go on all month through, my mind went into overdrive; coming up with adjectives that best capture the loveliness of women.

It was invigorating to discover I was not alone. Ugandan husbands that day brought their women breakfast in bed, others stayed home and offered them fabulous company, I tell you. One woman, who had no hope of getting spoilt because her husband is in the U.S. studying, called me in a voice tinged with joy. Her husband had actually called to say happy Women’s Day and whisper on the phone his love for her.

It was quite a rosy day for me until I called up a woman I will just call Flower. Is it that after a woman has nailed a man with a ring on her finger, she ceases to care? That’s the feeling I got from Flower and it shook me. I attended the same primary and secondary schools with Flower, and can assure you Shakespeare’s Juliet and Elechi Amadi’s Ihuoma pale in comparison with her beauty. After S.4, Flower joined a nursing college and married a doctor two years later.

Even in marriage, she continued to glow and grow in her beauty. But when I saw Flower in December after many years, her curves were gone and the once spotless face has since transmogrified beyond belief! And then she has grown so fat that she can hardly walk through the door. And I donot mean this in a disrespectful way but you have to pity the man who marries a woman that ceases to take care of herself.

Anyhow, when I called Flower on Women’s Day and asked where she was going to spend a romantic evening with her husband, she responded: “Those things are for campus girls. For us we are old and making money to put our children through school.” That night I lay on my bed and thought of the pert girl I love, and dreaded the very prospect of her ever having Flower’s attitude. What if we get married and she starts hogging herself with food and loses her mystery?

What if she stops being the lady she is and starts competing with the housemaid to see who is well-versed about Mexican soap operas? After watching Flower and talking to her, I think I understand why some men would rather have the ground swallow them than be seen in public with their wives. And as much as it’s painful to accept, this is why some men cheat on their women.

As women celebrate their month, it’s my appeal they do all it takes to retain their electrifying power. We men like flaunting you. And if you are not in that shape and look as to be flaunted, then, you’ve lost us. It is the point of this article, really. That it’s the woman’s mandate to work hard and look good. Be your man’s muse, and he will become the best man you want him to be.

--Saturday Monitor, March 17, 2010

A befitting celebration of poetry

By DENNIS D. MUHUMUZA

"As poets it is our duty to feel, to learn and unlearn, to be present and not absent and to remind ourselves and those around us of our very human nature through our gift of words.” Those words by Beverly Nambozo will carry refreshed meaning and significance during the World Poetry Day celebrations in Kampala next Wednesday.

Celebrated every March 21, World Poetry Day was inaugurated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation in 1999 to promote the reading, writing, publishing and teaching of poetry as well as to reflect on the power of language and development of creative abilities in individuals.

Revelers listen to a poet during Poetry in Session, a monthly sitting at Isha's Hidden Treasure in Kampala

Uganda’s poetry is thriving like never before, arguably. Storms have come and gone without extinguishing the poetic candle that Okot p’Bitek lit with Song of Lawino (1966), an epic that won him plaudits as the finest East African poet of the 20th century. The classic was followed by Poems from East Africa (1971) a powerful collection that includes some of Uganda’s finest poems. More poetry collections of distinguished quality such as Dr Susan Kiguli’s The African Saga (1998), Prof. Timothy Wangusa’s Africa’s New Brood (2006), Augustine Omare Okurut’s Songs of Rage and Other Poems (2009), Mildred Barya Kiconco’s Give Me Room to Move My Feet (2009) and Beverly Nambozo’s Unjumping (2010) testify to Uganda’s gift of poetry.

It’s on days like World Poetry Day that such works are celebrated in form of discussions, readings and recitals in honour of exceptional talent and to inspire budding others. Preparations are underway in some circles already. The Femrite Readers/Writers Club will for example celebrate the day on Monday during the club’s session.

“We shall be celebrating by reading poetry only, so come with your very best poems to read,” says Tino Akware, Femrite programme assistant. “You can also read poetry from your favourite poet.”

More recitals are expected in schools, in what should pass as a resurrection of the country’s oral tradition of poetry performance. In fact, this beautiful form of expression is back and vibrant, when you consider the grand recitals by the Lantern Meet of Poets, and what happens during the Spoken Truth night at the National Theatre when rap is amalgamated with spoken observations about life in our society.

So, remember to write or read a poem on Wednesday. For as Unesco’s former Director-General, Koichiro Matsuura observed, poetry must be celebrated because “it offers a multitude of ways and actual forms of writing, is an area of research and experience that enables the human condition to be reviewed in its entirety ... it designs the contours of possible forms of dialogue among cultures, histories and memories.”

--Saturday Monitor, March 17, 2012

Uganda’s finest poets celebrate Black history month with poetry evening

BY DENNIS D. MUHUMUZA

Bursts of energy and emotion, music and sensuality, inspiration and edification defined an evening of poetry commemorating the month-long U.S. celebration of Black History Month, on February 29.

The Black History Month was originated by African-American scholar Carter Godwin Woodson to highlight the accomplishments of African-Americans and the overall unique aspects of their experiences that had been ignored from the time of slavery and racism up until the 1960s. It started as the Negro History Week in 1926 before it was extended and renamed Black History Month in 1976 and has since been celebrated every February.

Anyhow, the Conference Hall at the College of Engineering, Design, Art and Technology, Makerere University, was packed with the country’s literati that along with students and budding literary talents spent two hours reveling in poetry.

For the sages of old like Prof Timothy Wangusa and Dr Okello Ogwang, the commemoration brought memories of the 1962 Literature Conference at Makerere that was attended by African-American writer Langston Hughes whose depiction of racism in his poems continues to move humanity long after his death.
On Wednesday February 29, Hughes’s famous poem, Herlem (1951) about a black American’s pain of being excluded from the “American Dream” because of the colour of his skin, was recited by Peninah Ninsiima. The audience could not help reciting achingly along: “What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore—And then run? Does it stink like rotten meat…Or does it explode?

Ms Ninsiima, a Makerere University Masters of Literature student also recited Nikki Giovanni’s Seduction (1997), and Maya Angelou’s Phenomenal Woman – two poems that exude the sexuality Ms Ninsiima brought out with her idyll voice.

But it was Beverley Nambozo’s newest poem, Ssebo Gwewange! and its patent eroticism that rocked the house most, judging by the response it evoked. Call it a love poem or an interaction of lovers under the sheets, its first stanza goes: “You pound me like the ngalabi/ I slap the wall to your rhythm/ Sharp, unforgettable, your tightening subdued I moan like thunder…”

Exactly 22 poems – both Ugandan and American – were recited and sung with a lot of enthusiasm that resonated with all, because the issues embedded are universal, or as Dr Ogwang put it, are “issues central to the existence of humanity.”

Dr. Susan Kiguli reciting one of her poems. Photo by Edward Ecwalu

You should have been there to hear the zeal in Dr Susan Kiguli’s voice as she recited her poem, Ugandan Previlege about the ideal of loyalty and brotherhood that are unfortunately vanishing from our society! And how frustration was tangible in her voice as she launched onto I am Back Home, depicting the muddled up country she still finds after four years abroad.

Prof Wangusa was there too, and from his 2006 anthology, Africa’s New Brood, he recited The XYZ of Love with its famous summation that true love is “when one of the couple finally dies –the other one fondly follows soon.” Prof. Wangusa is the Ugandan master of poetic playfulness and rhythmic satire. And he had the audience when he performed Africanology, a magnetic swipe at the intellectual big man of Africa. The poem, on the surface, is about African think tanks that meet and set up “strategic organs” across the continent to “research and promote the ethos of Africanology.” Some of the organs include: “The ampthitheatre of Anti-Governmentology in Algeria/ The Bureau of Bankruptciology in Burkina Faso…” not forgetting “The University of Ubiquitoniquitology in Uganda…”

Then there was the Lantern Meet of Poets luminary, Jason Sabiti, reciting Amiri Baraka’s Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note (1961), Jean Toomer’s Portrait of Georgia (1923) and Margaret Walker’s For My People (1942) – charged poems whose mood and emotions Sabiti captured with perfect annunciation, timed pace, breath control and a stirring voice.

Susan Kerunen added her own music to the overall musicality of language with two songs, Akuru (a singing bird) from her third album by that name, and Akello, a folk song she learned from her mother that lures the children to come grab something to eat for, yeah, it’s dinner time! And yes, the nourishments were in plenty, and as Doreen Baingana thanked all for coming to listen to poetry, some were already stepping out to catch a bite.

The Black History Month in Kampala which started on February 2 with the screening of the movie, The Great Debaters, was organised by the US Mission in Uganda together with Femrite and the Department of Literature, Makerere University.

--Saturday Monitor, March 10, 2012

Agbada Holds its Own in Nigeria

By Dennis D. Muhumuza

If you've never understood what the cliché "standing out from the crowd" means, tonight you'll understand before I'm done telling you about agbada.

The finest fashion designs from the West, especially tuxedos and other suits, have infiltrated Africa and taken the place of previously respected traditional garments. But in Africa's most populous country with a population of over 150 million people, agbada has refused to back down, and remains a status symbol especially among the Yoruba people of western Nigeria, who comprise 21 percent of its population.

A gushing piece of clothing that goes all the way to the ground, agbada is wide shouldered and comes with a V-neck and arms so long they must be gathered into folds when worn. The usually colorfully embroidered outfit is made, along with a pair of wide-waisted trousers called sokoto, from traditional material of silken texture called sanyan with a round cap, fila, to complete the package.

It can also be made from pure cotton or guinea cloth at its simplest, all the way to complex lacy designs of interwoven shapes, according to Bakare Weate, a popular blog (bakareweate.com/text/theagbada.pdf). The article further notes: "When made of lace, the complex of folds played out across a material complex creates a phenomenal moving sculpture, a meringue of elaborate confectionery, a soft architecture which points the way towards a post-post modern theory of building, taking the fold beyond the fold.

If you want to watch agbadas of all modes, attend any important occasion in Nigeria. Not only does it symbolize power and wealth, it's also said to embody "the unique character of African masculinity."  Former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo was known to flaunt a new agbada on all state functions, and a typical Nigerian movie (the Nigerian film industry, Nollywood, is the world's second largest film industry) would be incomplete without an agbada-clad chief for a protagonist.

"In the olden days, only the rich and powerful could afford the material but times have changed," says Emanuel Idowu Adeniyi, a Yoruba journalist who loves wearing agbada. "Besides the beauty it adds to a person, many wear it as a way of projecting the rich cultural heritage of the Yoruba people. There's no way you can show how rich your culture is if you don't portray it through the food you eat, through the language you speak and through the clothes you put on. Agbada to Yoruba people is a way of showing how rich our culture is."

So if you you're a visitor to West Africa, particularly Nigeria, and want to earn favor, friendship or respect; if you want to attract the hottest beauty queen there or you just want "to stand out from the crowd", agbada is the way to go!

--First published on WJI Times Observer online on Saturday January 28, 2012

Finally a show for men

Talking may be a reserve of women, but with a new show airing on NTV finally men can speak their minds on different topics, writes DENNIS D. MUHUMUZA

After lots of ads, the new television talk-show, Men, finally debuted on NTV on Wednesday, February 1. It deals with men issues from, cars, finances, to handling women; and generally being the men we are!

The men behind Men

Hosted by Peter Igaga, an effervescent man in specs, the show shot in a presidential suit at Sheraton Hotel in Kampala, featured Ransom Mahaka who the show-host described as "the only married guy", Joseph Mukasa who has "a large family of beautiful sisters" and mass com grad Colin Asiimwe who told off the smug marrieds that "it takes so much being a man than being married."

"Guys, I want us to demystify who a man is," began Igaga.

And his panel laughed liked boys.

Easy, Mukasa said, "We are very simple creatures unlike what ladies think" and Asiimwe concurred, saying it would be easier for the ladies to handle men if only they didn't shout at us.

It got hot with the show host defining a man as "somebody who needs SFF –Sex, freedom, food!" To break it down for you ladies, if you give your man good sex, freedom to be with the boys, and a fantastic meal, you'll never worry about him straying! In fact, leaving the housemaid to do all the cooking and serving while wifey sits there watching some Mexican soap was advanced as the leading cause of hanky-panky between the man in the house and the maid – something wives so abhor.

It has been said that boys will always be boys. Indeed they got carried away, with Igaga alleging it has been medically proven that a man thinks about sex seven times a day, and Asiimwe describing great sex as "a woman being on top!" Mukasa was the only voice of reason, chiding his colleagues to stop reducing men to sex maniacs, arguing there’s more to a relationship than just sex.

The show-host steered the show well, and his guests were relaxed; seemingly unconscious of the camera. They were also blunt and articulate with perfect enunciation.Thus the show has all the earmarks of becoming a hit.

However, it should be handled with maturity especially when handling sex subjects because the kids are watching! Plus an expert say religious person or professional counsellor is needed on the team for a soberer perspective.

Catch Men every Wednesday at 9.45pm on NTV.

--Sunday Monitor, February 05, 2012