Nancy Kalembe On Power, Feminism, and Why Uganda is Ready for a Female Head Of State!

NANCY KALEMBE disembarks from a black van emblazoned with her campaign posters. She’s flanked by her team of aides, and security detail who are sauntering around the entire parking lot. She looks nothing like Ugandan politicians, or presidential aspirants, as we know them. “I’m not a politician,  I’m a leader,” she tells me moments later. She’s dressed in a white silk long-sleeved blouse, a gingham printed midi skirt accessorised with silver earrings and a pair of black four-inch heeled pumps. Her signature hairdo; braided at the front with grey hairs sticking out beautifully, and afro at the rear, peaks out as her team hands her over to me. “Nice to meet you Hassan, I’m Nancy,” she greets me with piercing confidence, the kind that reminds me of ‘Veronica’, a role she played 15 years ago on ‘Hand in Hand’, a local TV series. 

However, her current role, is far from glamorous. She’s running for Uganda’s top office. Three days prior to us meeting, she was successfully nominated to run for the position. The 40-year-old woman, who describes herself as ‘the most multifaceted’ candidate in the race (she’s been everything from a sportswoman, beauty queen, actor, reality TV star and with stints in banking, oil & gas, farming and more) is determined to end Yoweri Museveni Tibuhaburwa’s 34-year-run as the president of the East African nation. 

As we ascend into the photo studio, a plain-clothed gentleman, whose face I didn’t get chance to see, because of his giant eyeglasses and facemask, tows behind us. “Are you comfortable around all these security people?” I ask. “Not at all!” she tells me. “But, what to do? They follow me everywhere.” Indeed, the ‘giant eye-glassed face-masked’ gentleman follows us, and sits through Kalembe’s hair and makeup, fittings and photo shoot without leaving her sight for a second.  After her shoot, during which, she wears a billowy Sham Tyra gown, whose print she describes as “my type”, she and I sit down to talk politics. We sit in the fairly messy glam room of the studio, with young women and men walking in and out, to fix their eyelashes and change outfits as they pose for glamorous photos in the studio next door. Perhaps, this is the best picture of what a huge section of Kalembe’s target electorate, the youth, are up to – oblivious to the politics of their country. The population that lives on their smartphones and communicates through emojis and emoticons. Albeit being very influential, they never turn up to vote; either because they lost hope in their leaders, or just out of sheer disinterest.

Are you aware that most of these young people, for whom your manifesto is targeted to, never turn up to vote? 

I hope that by the end of these two months I will have given them reason to go out and vote. There is a huge possibility that we can overwhelm the system, if everyone does their job. They say, our electoral process is so damaged that it doesn’t matter whether I vote or not. You see, bad can only be overwhelmed by too much good, so for all the young people, let us try it out this time, let us go out and vote overwhelmingly – and not just vote and go back to bed! Vote, we have smartphones and cameras, all kinds of gadgets that can help us. Let us go out and vote and on that day, stay there, wait for the votes to be counted. Wait for the returning officers to sign, then take pictures and make videos. 

Why is it very important that everyone goes out and votes? 

It’s very evident that everyone is yearning for change. You see, that ballot box is like war. And, that’s the war that we’ve chosen to go to to get the change we desire so much. A war that’s going to change government, a war that’s not going to take lives but will most definitely change lives. 

You have just 60 days to traverse the whole country with your message. Isn’t that too a little a time for someone with little experience and rapport with the electorate? Also, the restrictions spelt out by the Electoral Commission are countless. Don’t you think all this is to your disadvantage? 

Not at all! I believe challenges can be  opportunities. About having ‘little experience’, first and foremost, I’m the most multifaceted person who has ever run for this office. I have experience in a lot of industries in the country. Political experience as our country stands right now, I don’t think carries much weight because if it did, the country would be much better. It’s not the politicking that is important, it’s the leadership and the work that ought to be done. If our country had moved from 3rd to 1st world status, like Singapore, maybe, then that question would be valid. Would political experience garnered from this country count for you? So, why does any Ugandan even think about asking about political experience?

You’re running against a man with not just political but also military experience, remember  

If you say that the person running for president has to have military experience, you are implying that Ugandans are barbaric people, who cannot be managed unless it’s brutal force. I don’t believe that. Ugandans were ready for a post-military Uganda long time ago, they just didn’t have the options. 

Women have run for this position in the past, but none was successful. Do you think that the time is now for a woman to run the country? 

Has there been any man who has been successful when running for presidency against President Museveni? 

No!

So, why ask me about the women who haven’t been successful when there are men too? Let me put it this way, there are more men who have failed at this presidential race than there are women! There are only 4 women who have failed to become president. How many men have failed? 

A woman to run for President is not an honor. The constitution of Uganda allows any citizen to run for public office, and for each public office, the Electoral Commission has stipulated the requirements and qualifications of each office that a Ugandan citizen should run for. I happen to have qualified to run for this position. 

Some people still think that a woman will spend too much time on her appearance. It’s their reason for not trusting women with power! 

How many African presidents are drunkards? 

I don’t know. But, I believe some are. 

Good! How many African presidents are womanizers? Do you know how much time it takes to be a womanizer? So, society wants to find excuses because of the time I’ll use to comb my hair compared to the time someone takes drinking or philandering?  Really? It doesn’t even make sense. Society judges everyone and everything. How I look? I really don’t care what people think about that. Why? Because throughout my life I have been a bunch of things. I’ve been a tomboy and I really didn’t care. In university, when all the girls were dressing pretty and nice, I would go to class in jeans and a t-shirt, and I didn’t care. I’ve been a sportswoman all my life, and what I cared about was the competition ahead of me, not how I looked. 

Then you almost won the Miss Uganda pageant..

It just happened to be one of the things I did along the way. It doesn’t define me, because as you have seen, my life is multifaceted. For you to judge me because I’m a swimmer or a former beauty queen or an academician, would be trivial. A human being is wholesome. I am a mother, a sister, a friend, a daughter, now I’m a grandmother too. I am so many things, so to choose to judge me by one aspect of my life would not be fair. 

You have a big job ahead of you; besides proving the skeptics wrong, you have an electorate to prove to that you are the right candidate for the job! 

Not at all actually! I have nothing to prove. We have nothing to prove as women, we just do. How often do you hear a man say “kankulage ndi musajja” (Let me prove to you that I’m a man)? They’re always trying to prove something, but women, we just act! 

Is that your strategy? 

No, that cannot be my strategy, a strategy cannot be that plain!

What’s your strategy? 

Strategies, just like battle plans are not shared. I cannot sit here and share it, then it wouldn’t be a strategy. I cannot tell you my battle plan when I’m going for war, then that’s not a battleplan. Especially when I have 9 other competitors waiting to look at it! 

You describe yourself as the embodiment of change. What is your definition of change?

When you’re talking about Ugandan leadership, change is 46 million people. Because we’ve had the same president for 34 years, coming to 35 years now, change is everybody. When I say I’m the embodiment of the change Uganda needs right now, I am talking about leadership that actually makes sense. It would be very sad if Ugandans voted for change but came out of the frying pan, into the fire. So, it’s important that we choose the next leader carefully – one who is not chasing fame or money. One who isn’t power-hungry or vengeful. We have a lot of people who have come into political races because they are disgruntled, and are trying to get back at someone. It’s one thing to get out of this regime, then you get into another filled with bloodshed. 

The country is so divided right now! If it’s not political parties, it’s religion or tribal affliations. How do you intend to unite all of us?

It’s not hard to unite us a people. I’m sure you’ve heard of my campaign called Mission 56. Our mission is to unite the 56 tribes of this country. Our slogan is ‘We are leaving no one behind,’ why? Because, when, for example at home, children are treated equally, you won’t have sibling rivalry. The disunity amongst Ugandan on grounds of tribes, political parties, et al is because there is no equity in the distribution of services. 

Since independence, every president who has come into power has taken care of their own, and those people usually end up being disliked by the rest of the country. It’s the same thing at home when a parent becomes more affectionate to one child. Other children will gang up against that child because they feel left out. We saw this in Rwanda, and it turned out to be a genocide. Although I believe a genocide cannot happen in Uganda because of the high rate of intermarriages, as well as mixing of students in schools. You find that you have a friend who is from the West, North and Central. You’re from the East and you’ve married someone from the West or someone from the North. 

During my tenure as president of this country, I intend to untie the distribution of services amongst every single citizen. 

When it comes to the army, we have heard people saying things like “we have the majje (we have the army)”! Some of them have gone as far as saying that they came in with the bullet, the ballot will not take them out! I would like them to sit and watch, maybe get a bucket of popcorn, because this ride is going to be an interesting one. Ugandans have increasingly realised that they can do something about it! 

And what exactly do you intend to do?

This is what my government is going to do; first and foremost, we need reconciliation as a nation. We need to forgive past wrongs. When it comes to public service; police, the army, government and all these jobs, we need to equitably share them. It is important that we walk towards turning Uganda into a meritocracy. Why? I won’t give you a job because you are in my religion, tribe, or political party. One of my reasons for running Independent is because, I need to be a unifying factor in this country. I really don’t care what tribe, religion or political party you affiliate with. What I care about is that, you are Ugandan and if you have a talent, it will be developed. If you have anything Ugandans can consume to make it a better place, and you’re willing to share, we will use it without discrimination. 

We have tribal divide, yes, but the political divide is getting deeper. It’s about anarchy and aggression and strife. It, I think, has superseded tribal divide. I have been asked several times why I decided to run independently, and the example I give is –  When we were in school we had houses; Blue Yellow Red Green, and in those houses we used to compete in sports, music dance and drama. Each student had a house they fell into. Every teacher also had a house assigned to them. However, the headteacher never had a house. They had to remain neutral. I believe that Uganda is at a very delicate point. We need a non-partisan president to unite the children of Uganda. One who will be able to recognize the different talents and gifts that these 56 tribes have, so that people get jobs because of their knowledge, talent, creativity and understanding of a particular sector – not anything else. 

You’ve heard Americans walking around bragging that they are American, and they think that, just mentioning that should open doors for them. It’s that spirit; when someone knows who they are, you cannot push them around. We need to build the Ugandan spirit so that they know who we are. When they do, they will take full advantage of the beauty and gifts of the natural resources of our country. 

On a daily basis we pass traffic officers on the road sweating away in the heat. If you’re a true patriotic Ugandan, do you ever wonder what they go through? How many companies sell soft drinks, or water? Wouldn’t it be so beautiful if they said “Well, I own a water company and today is so hot, let me just go on a rampage and distribute cold water to these officers on the street.”  I actually tried doing it many years ago when I was running my fruit processing company. When you’d ask if the officers wanted a cold drink, the first question would be, “why?” And, that’s because it’s not common for people to do that here. We were once named one of the friendliest countries in the world, are we only friendly to foreigners but are failing to do that for one another?

In your manifesto, you promise leadership that’s future-focused. Expound on that. 

That is reconciliation. I’ve been asked, “What are you going to do to President Museveni when you become president?” and my answer is, “I’ll honor him”. Why? This business of African leaders locking up fellow African leaders in Europe – I’ve never seen any European leader being questioned in Africa. When America and Europe start questioning their leaders in Africa, maybe I can talk about it, but until I see that, we are not under colonialism any more. If we have a bone to pick, let’s do it in our homeland. 

The idea is, we don’t trust the systems here.. 

So, you don’t trust your own systems, but you’ll trust the system of the foreigner? 

Maybe the foreigner will be impartial..

Really? Are they impartial? Were they impartial when they were coming to drain the wealth from our continent? 
This is my take, number 1: Museveni is an elder in this land. I come from the land of Busoga. In my dialect, we say “Omukulu tasobya” because no one is perfect. For whatever his wrongs, it would be wrong for us to victimize him. We want to move on! He has a family, he has children, he isn’t just President Museveni. He is a father, an uncle a son; he is very many things to different people. When we are talking about reconciliation, and you decide to treat him badly, you aren’t reconciling with his family, his tribemates, his children, his.. everyone. 

I watched some of the hearings of the post Rwanda genocide, and there was a woman who touched me in more ways than I can describe. This woman was raped, her children were raped and murdered, and now she was in court facing the man who did this to her. She stood there and said, “God has forgiven me of so much, I have no right to judge. I forgive him”. The judge asked (by then I didn’t understand much about the law), “So what are you implying, that he should walk free?” And she replied, “If he is locked up, will my children come back from the grave? I forgive him!” 

The reason I’m saying I’m the embodiment of the change that Uganda needs right now, is because we need a leader who will look beyond what has happened. Let’s get a fresh start. Open a new leaf, actually throw out the old book, and start a new one!

You also promise to overhaul the system. This means changing systems that have been in place for over 30 years. How do you intend to do that? 

There is nothing that cannot change. Whether systems are bad and have been there for years! 30 is too small a time compared to the years we spent in colonialism. Didn’t we survive it? So, 30 years is a very small number of years. There are reset buttons, that can be pressed, and we start again. 

You’ll also be taking over power during a pandemic..  

Every leader has their own challenge and  problems to solve. Some leaders have taken power when there’s a credit crunch. I just happen to be taking over office during a pandemic. That’s a challenge we shall deal with our way. The pandemic has affected a wide spectrum of industries. It has put pressure on the health sector, and has messed up the education system. The economy is suffering for it. Right now, statistics show that, over 10 million people have dropped back under the poverty line. Ours is going to be a multifaceted approach to the effects of COVID. I believe that this is an opportunity waiting to happen, because they say,  out of being a victim you can be a victor. I know Covid -19 hasn’t killed Uganda entirely, it’s going to make us stronger as we come out of it. 

What if you don’t win this election? Do you have plans of implementing these beautiful policies out of government? 

Yes, I’ll implement the policies! But, losing  the election isn’t an option for me! I’m the next president of this country!! 

Let’s talk about you! You recently turned 40, what are some of the standout lessons you can gladly share? 

Firstly, we are fearfully and wonderfully made, as human beings. We are very different too. My experiences may be very different from yours. Our paths are going to be different, so I cannot just give advice to someone and have it work for them. But, I have two things I go by every day. I pray like I’m going to meet my maker tomorrow, and I like to work hard, as though I’m going to live another hundred years. So those combined; work hard and pray hard, that’s my personal formula. 
At the end of the day, we have a maker we are going to meet, whether you like it or not, no matter how powerful, rich or wealthy you are. You are going to meet that maker at some point. I decided very early on in my life, that I would pray like that so that my relationship with God is constantly open. That’s where I get my comfort, drive, peace and strength. I like to work hard because I like to live a comfortable life. There are certain things you cannot get if you haven’t worked for them. So, in case I live another 100 years, those years should be comfortable. If it is possible to work hard (or smart) enough to ensure that tomorrow is better than today, simple!

The fashion internet was ablaze over your outfits during the two days of nomination. Who put together those looks for you? 

I walked into a shop and bought a dress. Then, a tailor made me a dress, and that’s it! I’m not choosy about fashion. Half the time, I have friends who help me do the shopping, because fashion isn’t one of those things I pay a lot of attention to. I have more important things to think about. I would like the media, this time, to not trivialize me because no one asks a male aspirant what shoe they are wearing. They ask them about issues. The woman who is giving birth on the floor cares when I put better services in our hospitals. At the end of the day, when you help someone who was dying, they won’t care what you looked like. What matters is that you saved their life! 

PS: After the photo shoot, Kalembe openly promises the entire team that she would return for a celebratory photo shoot soon after she enters State House!

Dress by Sham Tyra 

Photographed by Benie Popie Kyakabale (Absolute Resolution)

Makeup by Makeup by Daphine 

hassan@satisfashionug.com