A rousing ovation for BBA guys
Nov 30, 2003
All the former Big Brother Africa housemates – the host Gaetano Kaggwa, Abbey Plaatjes, Bruna Estivao, Mwisho Mwapamba, Alex Holli, Tapuwa Mhere, Stefan Ludhik, Warona Masego, Zein Dhuda and Cherise Makubale, the winner were in town over the weekend
By Timothy Bukumunhe
All the former Big Brother Africa housemates – the host Gaetano Kaggwa, Abbey Plaatjes, Bruna Estivao, Mwisho Mwapamba, Alex Holli, Tapuwa Mhere, Stefan Ludhik, Warona Masego, Zein Dhuda and Cherise Makubale, the winner were in town over the weekend.
But there was one missing housemate – Sammi Kwame Bampoe whom we were told was unable to make it due to commitments back at home, Accra, Ghana.
The housemates’ first Friday night in town should have been one to remember and saviour, save for Alfred Mubanda, one of the organisers who with zeal took it upon himself to be stupid in trying to ruin the night.
At one point during the function at Kampala Casino he came up to we reporters and with a swelled chest which bore similarities to Ugachicks frozen chicken said, “be lost, get out of this place now because this is the last time I will be seeing your face this weekend!†He was duly reminded that some institutions are way bigger than him!
Mubanda’s issues with the media began at Entebbe airport where he took it upon himself to be dictatorial in what we were allowed to do. “You can’t take their pictures,†he screamed at us on more than one occasion. If we couldn’t take their pictures, then what was the point of us being around?
That little Mubanda thorn aside, when the housemates walked into Kampala Casino, they got more than a rousing ovation, which from where I was standing appeared to catch them by surprise. And as they walked in, the guests too came across as being unsure of what to do once the ovation was over.
An elderly lady standing next to me felt let down for she said of them, “they look ordinary.†Ordinary? Well not exactly so I told her. Bruna the housemate from Angola does not look ordinary!
If anything I felt she was somebody who had been specially crafted, a master piece much like the artist Vincent van Goth’s painting – Sunflowers was to the art world. She oozed a smile that was a class apart from the rest of her mates.
Everybody who was invited – basically the cream of Kampala's wannabes wanted a piece of them. They wanted to touch, to hug, to fondle, to ask for autographs and to pose with them. And they (the housemates) were willing.
None of them said no, and nobody had grandeur visions of an attitude (that sadly creeps into anybody who thinks they are a star) in that ‘I am a star’ so don’t bother me.
The hugs, kisses and screams of ‘oh Bruna, you were my favourite housemate' aside, one of the housemates, Bayo Adetomiwa Okoth from Nigeria took a tour of the Casino, at tour that was costly in that he lost or rather gambled away almost sh500,000 on the slot machine.
“Bayo, are you winning?†I asked him. “No I am not. You standing here is bringing me bad luck,†he replied in a broody tone. I let him be.
The real drama of the night though came in the wee hours of the morning when it was time for the housemates to leave. While all the housemates had boarded the bus to take them to Speke resort Munyonyo where they stayed during their visit, Bayo and Mwisho stubbornly refused to leave.
The one-hour stand off was so intense that the organisers had no choice but drag the already boarded housemates off the bus and back into the casino until the wee hours of the morning. Such was their passion to hang out and party that Mwisho even made it to Club Silk.
And Gaetano? Apart from being the perfect host especially to Abbey, he was deeply offended and hurt by the comments made about him in parliament that he and his fellow housemates were not fit to be role models campaigning against AIDS.
All the former Big Brother Africa housemates – the host Gaetano Kaggwa, Abbey Plaatjes, Bruna Estivao, Mwisho Mwapamba, Alex Holli, Tapuwa Mhere, Stefan Ludhik, Warona Masego, Zein Dhuda and Cherise Makubale, the winner were in town over the weekend.
But there was one missing housemate – Sammi Kwame Bampoe whom we were told was unable to make it due to commitments back at home, Accra, Ghana.
The housemates’ first Friday night in town should have been one to remember and saviour, save for Alfred Mubanda, one of the organisers who with zeal took it upon himself to be stupid in trying to ruin the night.
At one point during the function at Kampala Casino he came up to we reporters and with a swelled chest which bore similarities to Ugachicks frozen chicken said, “be lost, get out of this place now because this is the last time I will be seeing your face this weekend!†He was duly reminded that some institutions are way bigger than him!
Mubanda’s issues with the media began at Entebbe airport where he took it upon himself to be dictatorial in what we were allowed to do. “You can’t take their pictures,†he screamed at us on more than one occasion. If we couldn’t take their pictures, then what was the point of us being around?
That little Mubanda thorn aside, when the housemates walked into Kampala Casino, they got more than a rousing ovation, which from where I was standing appeared to catch them by surprise. And as they walked in, the guests too came across as being unsure of what to do once the ovation was over.
An elderly lady standing next to me felt let down for she said of them, “they look ordinary.†Ordinary? Well not exactly so I told her. Bruna the housemate from Angola does not look ordinary!
If anything I felt she was somebody who had been specially crafted, a master piece much like the artist Vincent van Goth’s painting – Sunflowers was to the art world. She oozed a smile that was a class apart from the rest of her mates.
Everybody who was invited – basically the cream of Kampala's wannabes wanted a piece of them. They wanted to touch, to hug, to fondle, to ask for autographs and to pose with them. And they (the housemates) were willing.
None of them said no, and nobody had grandeur visions of an attitude (that sadly creeps into anybody who thinks they are a star) in that ‘I am a star’ so don’t bother me.
The hugs, kisses and screams of ‘oh Bruna, you were my favourite housemate' aside, one of the housemates, Bayo Adetomiwa Okoth from Nigeria took a tour of the Casino, at tour that was costly in that he lost or rather gambled away almost sh500,000 on the slot machine.
“Bayo, are you winning?†I asked him. “No I am not. You standing here is bringing me bad luck,†he replied in a broody tone. I let him be.
The real drama of the night though came in the wee hours of the morning when it was time for the housemates to leave. While all the housemates had boarded the bus to take them to Speke resort Munyonyo where they stayed during their visit, Bayo and Mwisho stubbornly refused to leave.
The one-hour stand off was so intense that the organisers had no choice but drag the already boarded housemates off the bus and back into the casino until the wee hours of the morning. Such was their passion to hang out and party that Mwisho even made it to Club Silk.
And Gaetano? Apart from being the perfect host especially to Abbey, he was deeply offended and hurt by the comments made about him in parliament that he and his fellow housemates were not fit to be role models campaigning against AIDS.