Kudos Musa Mwambu and, of course, NTV

If you asked Ugandans who Musa Mwambu was on Tuesday evening, there's a chance many would have said he's an actor.

See, Tuesday was the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. To commemorate the day, NTV Uganda curated a local film, When You Become Me. 

The film, staring Doreck Ankunda as Africa, Emmanuel Atuhaire as Alex, and Musa Mwambu as Liam Agaba, follows the story of a man who takes on his employers after blatant disability discrimination at work. He opts to take his employers on with a court case, and a lot of drama unfolds with other cases that involve Africa, who is facing hardships at work because she is hard of hearing.

The film came out in 2023 and managed to scoop a number of awards at the annual Uganda Film Festival, with Musa Mwambu taking home the Best Supporting Actor award.

While talking about working with Mwambu, Mathew Nabwiso, the film’s director, said that he was worried at first because he had never worked with an actor with a visual impairment or one who was hard of hearing and thus wasn’t sure of how he was going to direct the actors.

However, working with Ankunda and Mwambu was easier as time went on; he got Mwambu his script and managed to directly communicate with him to tell him about shooting schedules and new developments.

When You Become Me is a collaborative work of Light of the World, Reach a Hand, and Nabwiso Films geared towards inclusivity at workspaces, though in the particular case, Nabwiso noted that the storyline challenged filmmakers as well.

“We don’t write enough stories that represent everyone, and neither do we create enough opportunities for actors from all walks of life,” he said.

On Tuesday, Nabwiso must have smiled seeing Ankunda and Mwambu grace the NTV screens when the film made its debut on the TV station, but he may have been more proud when Mwambu made his debut as an anchor on NTV at Nine later that night.

Joined by Edris Mattu Ssegawa, Mwambu was part of the team that delivered news to the nation on Tuesday as the world celebrated brothers and sisters that are abled differently.

There was something about the bulletin; first was Mwambu showing off his eloquence to the viewers, and then the unusual braille he was using.

A braille is a reading and writing system for people who are blind or visually impaired that uses raised dots to represent letters and numbers. To read braille, you move your fingers from left to right across the page, feeling the raised dots with the soft pads of your fingers.

From the time the bulletin debuted, social media was sent in a frenzy, many wondered how the man was reading so eloquently while others were still digesting what NTV had just done.

“Who knew a local TV could put a visually impaired person on TV to read news? asked one of the people online, adding, NTV has earned my respect.”

In the same breath, celebrated BBC broadcaster Allan Kasujja commented that in over his 30 years in media, he has not seen something as remarkable as Mwambu broadcasting news with his braille.

Even a day after the broadcast, the clips and links of the bulletin were still shared by people but nothing was more overwhelming than Mwambu’s closing remarks, thanking NTV for showing the world that regardless of vision or disability, everyone has the power to be something.

“Give people with disabilities the opportunity to fully exploit their potential,” he said.