By Our Reporters
Edith Kabazungu, mother to singer Sheebah Karungi (born Samalie Njagala Karungi 29 years ago) has let out the secret disclosing to reporters the circumstances under which she gave birth to her. In a bid to defend her daughter who mourners and family members were cursing for skipping her biological father Ahamada Kimali Musoke’s burial on Monday, Edith Kabazungu said the late Musoke was never a responsible parent towards Sheebah. She said the day she conceived the Team No Sleep singer, it was an outcome of a very violent rape by Musoke who was revenging against his young brother Lutwama who was her husband. Kabazungu says Lutwama had previously been suspected of sleeping around with one of Musoke’s wife, a thing that prompted him to do the same to Lutwama’s wife. Besides Sheebah, Kabazungu whose parenting skills and determination as a single mother Sheebah has always praised in media interviews, produced 6 other children all of whom are for Lutwama.
The two brothers consequently fell out and lived apart-Lutwama relocated to nearby Mukono district and Kimali Musoke remained in Buikwe. Musoke had battled diabetes and high blood pressure for many years, died Sunday night and being a Muslim, he was buried the next day Monday 12th February in Namiyagi Village/Wakisi Ward in Njeru town council Buikwe district. Sheebah was nowhere to be seen leaving hundreds of mourners, who had expected to meet and have a look at her and other celebrities, very frustrated. But Edith Kabazungu her mum defended Sheebah saying she was away abroad for work. But even if she was in Uganda she would most likely not have attended because she had fallen out with Kimali Musoke who actually cursed and excommunicated her when still alive.
This explains why she never came to see him for all the months he was bed ridden feeling unwell. Whereas some people sympathized with her arguing that Kimali Musoke was a very complicated conservative character, the late’s eldest son Swaibu Senfuka blames Sheebah for being very unrepentant and unforgiving towards her daddy. Senfuuka, who several times brokered reconciliation, says Sheebah would always say she can’t forgive dad because of the way he neglected her as a kid including refusing to pay school fees for her. Her mum, with 6 other kids to look after, was a poor woman who did very lowly casual jobs including sorting beans at a coffee factory in Kawempe where she daily used to earn as little as Shs2000/- not even enough for transport in a cheapest tax. Senfuuka is supported by Kimali Musoke’s sisters (Rose Mbowa & Rovinsa Nakinobe) who say they tried reconciling the two but their daughter Sheebah always complicated things by being unrepentant and arrogant towards her ailing father. One thing was clear during the funeral; Kimali Musoke was a religious fanatic and always read his Koran. As such he considered Sheebah’s liberal approach to life to be satanic and abominable in Islam. At the Mosque, where he daily went for prayers, Kimali always said fellow Muslims ridiculed him because of the nudity his daughter always exhibited on stage. He also resented her vulgarity, reckless sex talk and rampant use of obscene words. He considered all these alien to Islam which he so much practiced since childhood. He was always belligerent towards Sheebah because of such but Edith Kabazungu says Kimali Musoke’s demands were very unreasonable and it was right the young lady rejected them. She wonders how Sheebah, whose education barely exceeded S5, would survive if she stooped singing as Kimali Musoke demanded of her at some point. Edith maintains that the biggest problem is Musoke was always judgmental and fault-finding.
She says Sheebah didn’t need to be so poorly behaved to get into problems with Kimali Musoke. To her he was simply a bad guy. She says he overneglected his own child and this attracted so much resentment in the child to the extent that an equally disgusted Sheebah willed/decreed that the day she dies, she must be burie
d in Mukono/Lutwama’s place and never in Buikwe at Kimali Musoke’s burial grounds. Salma Nakakande, one of Kimali Musoke’s many children, disagrees with Edith Kabazungu and says Sheebah is very poorly behaved and her biggest problem has been failure to manage success. Nakakande says Sheebah despises everybody in the family simply because she is a celebrity (or considers herself so?). Nakakande recalls a recent experience when their grand parent (jjaaja) died. “Sheebah unexpectedly came for burial but refused to leave her car. She stayed in the car and left immediately after burial,” Nakakande says supporting other children’s view that Sheebah should be expelled from the clan and forced to abandon their names such as Samalie Njagala Karungi (which she was given in memory of her auntie to whom she was heir). She insists that no sane Muslim parent would ever tolerate the shame and ridicule Kimali Musoke endured because of Sheebah’s always much publicized nude stunts. Nakakande confirms that one time a very angry Kimali Musoke called his other children for a meeting and before them, he raised his hands and cursed Sheebah insisting she will remain barren and will never get children.
NOT SURPRISING
In all her media interviews and public utterances, Sheebah has never been enthusiastic about her father. She has always talked about her mother with a lot of fondness saying “she brought me up singlehandedly.” In December 2016, Sheebah had her maiden music concert named Nkwatako. It was at Hotel Africana and while there, on being excited with the big crowd that turned up, she emotionally broke down and called on the gathering to thumb up for her mum. She said she hates plunging into the story of her father insisting it was very traumatizing recalling that part of her personal history. She told the gathering how she starved at her father’s home prompting her to flee to Kawempe to live with her very poverty-stricken mum. She was only 9 when she severed links with her own Dad Kimali Musoke who was 76 as of last Sunday when he died. The mum too felt betrayed when Sheebah fled home in O’level and went to try dancing to make ends meet. Mum would sort coffee beans and earned Shs2,000 for each bag of 100kgs that she sorted out. This is why she sometimes came with her 7 children to make much more money at this Kawempe coffee processing factory.
SHEEBAH PROFILE
She was born in November 1989 and belongs to Ngeye clan of Buganda. The clan is famous for producing the most beautiful girls in Kabaka Mutebi’s dominion. In the Kawempe slums, Sheebah grew up with her mum. Under the care of her mum, Sheebah enrolled at Kawempe Muslim P/S and Kawempe Muslim SS. In S2 she quit Kawempe SS for Midland SS still in Kawempe and dropped out before doing her UNEB exams. She quit school at 15 and joined STINGERS, a dancers group as a lowly paid queen dancer. In 2006 she scaled heights and joined Obsessions which was Kampala’s leading dance group at that time. When the Group crumbled, she went on a solo music/singing career before flocking under Team No Sleep founded and managed by Jeff Kiwa who hoped to use it to eclipse Goodlyfe whose chaotic singing duo Mozey Radio & Weasel had dramatically parted ways with him. In the famous film entitled Queen of Katwe, Sheebah starred as Shakira. Many of her songs have been hits especially in ghetto slums where the urban poor live. He hit songs include Ice Cream, Farmer, Ndi Wanjawulo, Agenda Akkuse, Tonzoleya, John Rambo & Kisasi Kimu. She remains famous as a daring go-getter who won’t hesitate going nude on stage just to grab media publicity and remain famous.
