Inside the world of ssenga Justine Nantume

Justine Nantume presenting at Dembe FM. She hosts different shows not only on radio but also on TV. She also offers ssenga services

What you need to know:

  • He asked her to go back to school, at least to learn how to write her name. She hesitated because she was no longer of primary-school going age.
  • He insisted and when she gave in to his pleas, she asked to learn how to read and write Luganda and not English.

Whenever, you find her, Justine Nantume, commonly known as ssenga will either be singing out loud or smiling to no one in particular.

Now a DJ, Tv presenter and actress among others roles, Nantume owes her fame to dance. After the war, in 1986, Nantume got permission from her mother to join one of the popular traditional dance troupes in Luwero, her home town.

Her mother had no choice because Nantume had not gone to school and was excited to find something to keep her busy. Mzee Ssebuguzi and the Nankasa Group took her in. She proved herself by her commitment and good dancing skills.

Times of war
This was also good therapy for the 15-year-old who had endured the trauma of two wars; the 1979 war that led to the fall of president Idi Amin’s government as well as the Bush War that ushered in the National Resistance Army (NRA) now National Resistence Movement (NRM) government.
When recollecting the war, she talks about it like it happened yesterday. She cannot forget experiences of spending nights in the cold, feeding on unconventional meats like tortoises. She warns me that if we are to talk about war, I would have to arrange another appointment altogether. Nantume is that good story-teller, a trait that fascinates many.

Life on TV
With a little interest to talk about her teenage experience, she moves on to her present life. She keeps viewers glued on NBS television for an hour, alongside her co-host Latifa Ssenyondwa, talking about something and everything. If they won’t tickle you with their dress code, they will keep you watching with their sexual innuendo and light-hearted talk on topical issues of the day.

On stage
Nantume brings on television a style she has tried and tested on stage. She is one of the lead actresses at the weekly show dubbed Akandolindoli, of sketch comedy presented over two hours at Bat Valley Theatre, in Kampala.

We meet backstage at the theatre where our interview is continuously interrupted with comedians and actors who are lined-up for the evening show, some saying hello or throwing a jibe at her.

She takes it all in with a smile, and occasionally responds to a joke with hilarious lines and a dose of sexual allusion. Her stage name is ssenga Justine Nantume ‘Nanyinizo’.

Her role as a Ssenga
Ssenga is a Luganda word for a paternal aunt and in Buganda, from where the word is derived, the role of an aunt is a lot more than pay causal visits to her brother and family.

A ssenga initiates a teenage girl into adulthood, and in Buganda, this involves sex education and acts imbedded within norms of Baganda. This includes the elongation of labia of their vaginas locally known as okunyalila ensiiko.

Whereas rights’ activists have described the process as torture, given the pain involved, and a violation of girl’s rights, ssenga Nantume says it is part of tradition and it is done for a good reason, “largely to keep and maintain warmth that contributes to sexual enjoyment.”

Many ssengas concentrate on sexual issues which has redefined their role, something Nantume attributes to commercialisation of the traditional roles aunts are supposed to offer.

There is prove to this given the amount of airtime ssengas have on radio, in newspapers and on television.

Source of information
She learnt this role from her mother who taught her well. At first, she would eavesdrop on her conversations with couples that came home to share their marital problems as they sought solutions. Then she opened up to her about the need to learn and her mother taught her.

“Beyond sex education, ssengas are supposed to teach about character. A woman should be reminded about hygiene, language and how to handle a man. There might be equality but how we interpret it is important. A man will always be superior over a woman and if a woman cannot understand it, then they will ruin their relationship,” ssenga Nantume explains.

Controversial as it may sound, the 44-year-old roots for men having an extra lover. Nantume argues that a man needs an extra woman in order to keep the boredom, sexually and otherwise, at bay. She says it is not something new, adding that our forefathers had it as part of tradition.

Status
Coincidentally though, ssenga Nantume, with all the tactics and knowledge, is still single and searching. “I am looking for a man who I can introduce to my parents,” she says, with a straight face.

The mother of three was once in a relationship, first with Matthias Kaweesi, a football player with Express Football Club. She walked out of the relationship accusing him of being controlling and possessive. At the time they met, Nantume was cutting her musical teeth, in 1993, three years after she had been lured by Lord Fred Ssebatta from being a traditional drummer to joining Matendo Promoted Singers.

“He wanted me to stop singing yet this was my source of livelihood. I could not let him stop me,” she recalls. The couple had two children when she called it quits. She gave her soul to music and dance which she alternated.

It was Ssebatta who had talked her into getting into a committed relationship. “He encouraged us to commit because the HIV prevalence was very high and he did not want us to contract Aids. When I opened up about having met Kaweesi, he supported us all the way. We visited my caretaker at the time, my late sister and we sort of officialised our relationship,” she recounts.

With dance and music, she was able to give her siblings what she had not gotten; education. Some of them have pursued farming as a source of livelihood and she has supported them further by buying for them pick-up trucks to ease transportation of their produce to Kampala and other places where they can be bought. She also saved up money and built her mother a house in Luweero.

Life as a DJ
Along the way, she met another man with whom she had another child. She is not willing to say much about the relationship let alone mention his name. In 2009, a friend tipped her for a radio job at Dembe FM. She did voice tests and passed.

The programme director of the radio station at the time, Christine Mawadri, asked her to speak non-stop for 10 minutes. She spoke for 20 minutes and wanted to go on.

She is still a presenter at Dembe, for Gigenda Gitya which she presents alongside Jacob Omutuuze, between 1 and 4pm. She also presents Akakyankalano ka Wikendi every Saturday between 6 and 10am.

Achievements
She is happy that she can show something out of her toil over the years. She has been able to travel to Dubai and London to perform as an artiste and also offer talks as a ssenga.

“I have also achieved materially. I have acquired five cars; a Fuso truck, two matatus, a forward truck and my personal car- Ipsum. I have invested in rentals. I have 20 rentals in Nateete, five in Ndeeba and land,” ssenga Nantume lists some of her achievements, thus far.

When she looks back, she is grateful to one man, one Bisegerwa, a venue owner at one of the places where Matendo Promoted Singers used to perform. He liked her for being initiative, the young lady that would find dirty seats in a hall or bar and ask for water and soap to clean them.
He asked her to go back to school, at least to learn how to write her name. She hesitated because she was no longer of primary-school going age. He insisted and when she gave in to his pleas, she asked to learn how to read and write Luganda and not English.

First she attended classes with pupils but soon felt out of place so she was offered private lessons at Molly & Paul Nursery and Primary School in Makindye, near Kampala.
And while she searches for a soul mate, Nantume will continue juggling through jobs, mending hearts and sharing advice as a ssenga, cracking up viewers on television and audiences in theatre and on radio.