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Resty Nakapanchu’s journey from radio presenter to activist

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Radio host/presenter Resty Nanteza alias Nakapachu while in studio. PHOTO/TAUSI NAKATO

On a typical morning, a diverse crowd gathers outside an office on plot 44-45, Gabula Road in Jinja City.

Among them are elderly women, mothers, and grandmothers with abandoned grandchildren, street children, people with disabilities, and a few men, all united by a shared sense of desperation.

They sit in hopeful anticipation, some clenching on worn documents, otherswith stories of struggle written on their faces.

These people are prepared to wait for more than five hours or days, seeking solutions to problems that range from lack of shelter and pending school fees to land disputes and unemployment.

Despite the proximity of a police station just 50 metres away, the city hall a 10-minute walk away, and several government agencies, they have chosen this particular office where they believe salvation resides.

This is the headquarters of the Nakapanchu Foundation, which was established by Resty Nanteza, alias Nakapanchu.

More than a radio presenter

Nakapanchu is more than just a name to them. She is a beacon of hope, a mother, sister, friend, administrator, activist, provider, and mediator. In the eyes of those who wait, this is where their hope lies and where their muffled voices will finally be heard. In some cases, they trust her more than the system.

“Most people prefer to take some of their cases to her first,” Mr Abdallah Mpanuka, the outgoing Jinja Central Police Station’s community liaison officer, reveals.

“She helps the less privileged in many cases including marital challenges, reconciling families and solving land and ownership cases involving widows and all,”Mr Mpanuka adds.

Nakapanchu has mastered the art of mediation. In addition to her radio shows, which are also broadcast on YouTube, she has assembled a team of professionals to support her work.

These include the police represented by the community liaison officer Kenneth Ahimbisibwe, a representative for the women, Mr Mpanuka, lawyers and judges.

“This committee has helped because it reduces the case backlog in courts by solving some social matters that can be handled out of the courtrooms,” Nakapanchu explains.

“There are cases where those involved have withdrawn the cases from court and come for mediation in our foundation,” she says.

This method, according to the Uganda Christian University law portal, is called Alternative Dispute Resolution, a system that expedites conflict resolution and reduces costs. It includes arbitration, conciliation, mediation and a brief look into collaborative legal practice.

When all fails, Nakapanchu seeks assistance from the police or uses the Justice Centre set up by lawyers to help.

Background

Nakapachu is the daughter of Mr Joseph Kawesa and the late Alice Nakazinga, both residents of Mbiko Village Kyabagu Zone in Njeru Municipality, Buikwe District. She attended Naava Primary School where she sat her Primary Leaving Examinations before joining St Noa Mawaggali for her Ordinary Level.

Both schools are found in Buikwe District. However, she became rebellious and as a form of punishment, her father sent Nakapanchu far northeast to Kangole Girls in Karamoja. She joined St Noa Mawagali Secondary School a few months later where she completed her Advanced Level (A-Level) studies.

Renowned radio presenter Resty Nakapanchu. PHOTO/FILE/COURTESY

Nakapanchu’s father hoped she would become a teacher, but she was determined to join the creative industry. After her A-Level studies, which she excelled at, she chose to do a Diploma in Music, Dance and Drama at Makerere University. Her father was disappointed, but little did he know what the future held.

Humble beginnings

Unlike most of her colleagues, Nakapanchu chose to head eastward, closer to home, to avoid the hustle and bustle of Kampala's crowded job market after completing her course.

She was offered an internship placement at NBS FM in Jinja in 2004. That was the start of her success.
“I was just fresh and wanted to dive into city life but my professor (not named) advised me to come to NBS in Jinja near home to save costs,”she reminisces about that decision in 2004.

During this time, Nakapanchu earned a meagre salary of Shs20,000 per month but remained patient, waiting for an opportunity to arise.

“I rotated programmes but one day my chance came. One of our colleagues, Lubowa Kyemba, fell ill, and there was no replacement, but I threw myself in. My bosses weren’t convinced but agreed to give me the chance,” she narrates, adding, “I can assure you that I was nervous but used it perfectly until I was employed as a co-host after that four-hour show. My salary increased from Shs20,000 to Shs80,000, to Shs300,000 and then Shs800,000. I worked for almost five years.”

Trailblazer

Nakapanchu does not only expend all her energy on social issues. She has also called out the government and elected leaders who are not delivering.

In the 2016 General Election, Nakapanchu joined elective politics, contesting for the position of district chairperson for Njeru Town Council. She won with 5,994 votes, outshining five male opponents: Robert Kakaire (374 votes), Muhammadi Kiberu (186),Christopher Kisaka (82), Yosia Kyazze (2,728), and Michael Odeba (3,285).

“I wanted to continue advocating for the people and by that time we were a few females elected in those positions,” Nakapanchu says, with a hearty smile.

During her tenure, Nakapanchu was vibrant, fighting corruption and exposing gaps in the system.

Deep waters

Nakapanchu passed with flying colours in the public’s scorecard, earning high praise and sparking thoughts of her advancing to the national stage in the August House.

In 2021, she entered a controversial and heated race for the Buikwe District Woman Member of Parliament seat.

While the official results declared NRM's Diana Mutasingwa Nakunda as the winner, Nakapanchu and her supporters strongly disputed the outcome.

“I wanted to take my voice to the national stage but those elections made me think twice about elective politics. Everyone knew I had won but they brought guns on the day of announcing and altered results,” she says.

Nakapanchu says she considered appealing the results in court but the state of the justice system in the country left her appalled. She eventually dropped the idea but there’s more that followed.

“People claimed that President Museveni gave Shs800m, others say Shs1b but none has ever come out with any evidence, but I know it was from my opponent,” she says.

The government has courted me to work with them as an RDC (Resident District Commissioner) and later a minister but I told them that I cannot be comfortable with a position that I have not fought for.

These rumours annoy me because I know the numbers to call the President if I wanted to,” she adds.

She eventually quit partisan politics to concentrate on her foundation and career.

Rocking the airwaves

While serving as district chairperson and during her 2021 campaigns, Nakapanchu did not miss a single show on radio.

“It’s hard to miss a show because I’ll miss my listeners and then that opportunity to help solve someone’s problems somewhere,”Nakapanchu says.

Nakapanchu has consistently been ranked the top radio personality in the eastern region by Ipsos for the last 20 years.

A friend in time of need

The political setback left Nakapanchu deeply shaken. Her husband, Dr Tonny Wekesa, who had been her university sweetheart before becoming her life partner, felt compelled to find a way to ease her sorrow.

“He rented that office space and helped start the foundation, but his original plan was to convince me out of politics as he brought people to console me,” she says.

Radio host/presenter Resty Nanteza alias Nakapachu gestures during an event with some of her fans. PHOTO/TAUSI NAKATO

Dr Wekesa is one of the founders of the privately-owned Doctors at Home Hospital in Jinja which extends free medical services to the underprivileged.

Nakapanchu excelled at the foundation. She later founded a Sacco that provided loans and support to underprivileged women, most of whom came for help at the radio and foundation. She also started Pachu Beauty products that skill girls and women in the world of beauty products to earn money.

The revenues from the products, she assures us, support the foundation.

Moving on

But every silver lining has its clouds. Nakapanchu’s time at NBS radio came to an end.

An internal wrangle saw her show cut from five days to two days a week by her new bosses.

“There was a big problem. First, they flopped my show ‘Women of Value Bugembe’ where I had invited Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja, ordered me to close the foundation and then suspended me for a month without pay,” she narrates

Nakapanchu decided that it was time to move on. She joined Busoga One radio, where her salary increased fivefold. The move was spearheaded by some of her most loyal listeners, known by their on-air pseudonyms Mama Sumaya, Mama Mi-Sweater, and Mama Sula.

“Radio had built me and through it, I built them and they (listeners) heard about my predicaments and decided to intervene and get me the show,” Nakapanchu says.

Nakapanchu holds a special place in her heart for her former boss and Jinja South East legislature Nathan Igeme Nabeta for grooming her.

At Busoga One, Nakapanchu hosts the weekday midmorning-to-lunchtime show Ensi Eno, meaning 'This World.'

Remarkably, within its first year, Ipsos ranked the show as the best in the region. Through Ensi Eno, Nakapanchu aspires to leave a lasting legacy.

Future projects

Ms Resty Nanteza, alias Nakapachu, dreams of establishing a women’s rehabilitation centre in Jinja, dedicated to empowering women and children.

Her vision is to provide them with essential skills during their recovery, enabling them to return home equipped with meaningful tools for a better future.

“The biggest problem is funding. We try to pull resources from beauty products (Pachu) or I ask the doctor (husband) to chip in but it’s not enough,” she says.