Humphrey was the glue that held the Mayanjas

The Mayanja siblings are mourning the death last Saturday of their eldest brother, Humphrey Mayanja. Despite not achieving the same level of fame as his younger brothers—Joseph Mayanja, alias Jose Chameleone; Pius Mayanja, alias Pallaso; Douglas Mayanja, alias Weasel, and the late Emmanuel Mayanja, alias AK47—Humphrey played a foundational role in shaping their musical path. 

Their mother says Humphrey delved into music after completing his O-Level education. He immersed himself into musical instruments, particularly a guitar. During his time at the Nsambya Youth Sharing Hall, a hub where young talents nurtured their artistic skills, Humphrey joined the Prestige Band and later the Super World Band. He would rub shoulders with the likes of Ras B Ssali in Nsambya, Kampala.

It was during this period that his younger brother, Chameleone, developed an interest in music. This influence cascaded down to other siblings. 
Humphrey initially discouraged Chameleone from pursuing music, not least until his little brother completed his education. Chameleone’s passion for music, however, proved insurmountable.

Born on December 4, 1972, to Gerald Mayanja and Proscovia Musoke Mayanja, Humphrey was the first of their seven children. He was succeeded by businessman Henry Mayanja Kasozi (Fling Fire), Chameleone, their only sister Josephine Nabukeera Mayanja, and singers Weasel, Pallaso, and AK47, who died in 2015.
Humphrey held a Diploma in Business Studies from Nakawa College of Commerce (present-day Makerere University Business School).

After his studies, Mzee Mayanja, who had previously worked with the Uganda Coffee Marketing Board, used his contacts to find a job placement for his son at the National Agricultural Research Organisation (Naro) in Entebbe. 
“He went to Naro, did the interviews and passed. However, he was over expectant in terms of salary, and he was not satisfied. Coupled with the long distance from town to the offices in Entebbe, all frustrated him, hence he quit within a short time,” Mzee Mayanja says, adding that Humphrey would later start his workshop that dealt with phone and other accessory repairs in the city centre at Ivory Plaza on Wilson Road.

His father was initially mesmerised by how his son could navigate the intricate world of technological gadget repairs without an education on the same. Then he remembered Humphrey’s childhood that saw him display a knack for tinkering with radios at home. His first child would disintegrate and reassemble radios effortlessly. This self-taught skill laid the foundation for Humphrey’s later ventures.

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Phone empire
While at his workshop in Kampala, Humphrey was recruited by MTN Uganda to extend his phone repair technical expertise to their counterparts in Nairobi, Kenya, where he further honed his skills in phone repair. He would later quit the job due to what he termed as underpayment. He returned to Uganda with a vision of further growing and consolidating his workshop. 
As his reputation grew, he went on to count Simba Telecom among his clients. Daniel Kazibwe, alias Ragga Dee, a singer who owned a phone shop at Pioneer Mall at the time, says Humphrey had carved a niche in unlocking phones that had been shipped into the country, mostly from London (UK) and America. 
Describing him as smart, stylish, and intelligent, Ragga Dee reveals that Humphrey seized the opportunity of working with Simba Telecom (which shipped in droves of locked phones) to expand his horizons. Soon, like Simba Telecom, he was importing new phones into the country by himself. It was around this time in the late 1990s that Humphrey employed slain blogger Isma Tusubiira, alias Olaxxess Jjajja Iculi, at his workshop as a phone seller.

Managing Chameleone
Around the same time, Chameleone’s music career was starting to gain traction. Humphrey started managing his younger brother and continued to be when Chameleone sought more opportunities in Kenya. During his stay in Nairobi, Humphrey is the one who kept pushing Chameleone’s music on the ground back home.
Ragga Dee says Humphrey always listened to Chameleone’s new music before its official release and guided on a few things at a studio in Najjanankumbi on Entebbe Road. 

“The pair travelled together at Chameleone’s first shows out of Uganda,” Ragga Dee reminisces.
The business side of Humphrey, Ragga Dee adds, was readily apparent. While on international tours, Humphrey spared time to buy phones for his shop.  As fate would have it, the brothers later broke up. Even then, Humphrey kept supporting his brother’s music.

Over the years, Humphrey’s phone business started to decline, mostly due to telcos shipping in phones under their brands. He seized an opportunity to seek greener pastures, relocating to the United States where he resided in Boston for a decade.
“Apart from the respect, he was always keen on knowing other relatives and would never forget about them, always inquiring how they fared,” Ms Mayanja says of her son.

Unifying factor
Humphrey’s parents saw in him a backbone that their family held onto.  
An artiste friend of the Mayanjas says that unlike his singing brothers, Humphrey mended relationships with people he wronged and even those his brothers had wrangles with over the years. Indeed, Ms Mayanja says her son was a key intermediary between artiste Robert Kyagulanyi, alias Bobi Wine,  and Chameleone at the time their rivalry was at its peak. 

To prove his true friendship with people, more than 95 percent of the medical bills were paid for by his friends, as per Ms Mayanja, who asserts that Humphrey “was loved in both life, sickness, and death.”
Drucilla Mayanja, the eldest of Humphrey’s children, describes her late father as a very loving, caring, strict but just man. 

“He raised us in a way where we could count on him at all times. He spoke to us as a dad and as a friend at the same time. We shall surely miss him,” she says, adding that he had a way with people, making everyone feel special.
For Josephine, the only girl among the Mayanja siblings, Humphrey was her best friend. 

“He named me Auntie Phina in respect to my role as their sister and auntie to all their children. He was the one brother I opened up to because, among many things, he replied [to calls and text messages] very fast compared to the others,” she says.

Last moments  

Humphrey developed stomach complications last March, which he initially mistook for ulcers. He passed bloody urine for some time. Upon visiting doctors in America, his father says he was misled into believing his issue necessitated him to drink lots of water in addition to simple medication. Although his condition improved temporarily, the blood composition in his urine resurfaced in July, prompting him to undergo a more serious checkup that diagnosed him with bladder cancer. 

His first operation aimed at removing the cancerous part, and he was later put on chemotherapy treatment. This took a deep toll on his health. In America, he was advised that he would not live much longer as his cancer was already at stage four. This prompted him to return home and spend the rest of his life with his close family and relatives. 

In Uganda, he was treated at Kiruddu and Platinum hospitals before being advised to be fully managed by his kin at home for his remaining days. In his last days, Mzee Mayanja discloses, Humphrey was in too much pain. His mother prayed to God to take him so he could be relieved of the pain. He finally died last Saturday morning at his home in Mutungo, Kigo.

His father says Humphrey took pride in having built a residence for himself through his hard work in America and was hoping to host a housewarming party to officially enter it, as well as an event he had desired to marry his lover identified as Shamira Ashid. 
Humphrey was buried at their ancestral home in Kalangaalo, Busaato, Ssingo County in Mityana District. He is survived by six children, four daughters, and two sons.