My 15 Minutes of Fame

Andy Warhol, the American Pop Artist [ironically slain by a heart-broken female fan’s bullet at close range] once remarked that, “In future, everyone will have 15 minutes of fame…” Whether that would be on TV, newspapers, the Internet or Broadway for ‘Aiko’ is not known. There is even a psychotic Hollywood movie entitled “15 Minutes” starring Edward Burns and Robert DeNiro. But Warhol’s prophecy (probably) came true for me on TV after Uganda’s 44th Independence Day. While enjoying the annual trade fair at Lugogo Show Grounds on 9th October 2006 (about six weeks after Graduation from UCU with a Mass Communication degree), I bumped into an old boy, actually a fellow graduate (but specializing in broadcasting) Grace Segirinya. He was now working for Record TV, the newest Station in town at that time, and I moved around with him and his cameraman while they got sound bites for the prime-time News. At the KPA stall inside the main exhibition hall, I kept my cool (as the two interviewed an official) after seeing one of the female executives whisper to her work mates or girlfriends while eyeing me. We had met before at her Crested Towers office plus Sheraton and I must confess that both instances stripped me of honour for lack of tact. I felt ashamed and stayed humble, though I know that nobody is perfect. You have good days and bad ones, her mama should have taught her that.

Anyway, moving back to the subject, we left the apparent gossips (Was I being paranoid?) and headed out to meet the rest of the Record crew. They needed the camera for a different show, a feature show in fact where common people are interviewed. No sooner had the cameraman told me to hold his tripod stand and 2 Litre Fanta bottle than I noticed the presence of a ‘respectable lady’ in the crew. She carried herself well and when she asked me for a drink, I gladly poured a cupful of the Fanta I was holding. The cameraman almost got mad but I told him I could buy him another if he wanted; talk of using someone’s property to impress the fairer sex. I was not thinking of any long term affair with this chick but since she was in the public fray and moreover the media, I needed to act right in order to be in her good books. The KPA lady had numbed my peace and confidence but this one was definitely bringing them back. We moved on from the Coke-Pepsi-Nile Depots to the Police show and then the unexpected happened. Tina Wamala, host of the Voice of the People Show (Wednesdays) asked me if she could interview me.

Of course I would be glad to be on her TV programme after riskily giving her someone’s soda but the topic was kind of tingly; marriage and divorce weren’t my expertise. I had to get my thoughts right in order not to speak like a bum. I was not yet married but tried to make an impression that somehow I know the ordeal of marriage. I had related with females before so I chose to use that as my baseline. One thought I probably did not bring out properly was that “Marriage has its problems, but single hood has no pleasures.” We should always thank GOD for the pain of being in a relationship because some people wish they had one, afterall no girl ever fancies them nor dares to tell them…So stick in there, till death do you part. ‘Every body deserves to have a partner’ was my concluding remark.

I even took Tina to a friend named Sekitoleko (Concrete K [Makers of fantastic Building Blocks] opposite the Spear Motors Zone) who earlier wanted his stall to be advertised on WBS. The lady he sent me to beg for an interview told me to part with 100,000 for the feature, which was quite sickening but also she held her breath while I spoke, how rude! Now Tina would interview ‘Seki’ for free concerning ‘Independence Days in the Past’ and business in general, more than enough advertisement help he wanted from his ‘journalist’ friend, that’s me…Meanwhile, Tina now had clips to fill the minutes in her show since some people had earlier refused to be interviewed.

I did not watch the show but told a few friends to check it out for me and their feedback was complimentary. Meanwhile, my immediate neighbours back home in Kyebando Kisalosalo (a Kampala suburb) were so amazed that one morning, they all (except the parents) sat on the verandah to watch me pass. I became a celebrity of sorts. They even told my 3rd sister, Doris, about it and the eldest kids were going crazy about the few minutes of my fame. Another neighbour briefly, though all-smiles, told me she had seen me on TV and remarked that it was ‘good’.