Leslie Nabunya
Theresa Kasumba is a Ugandan-born media personality, entertainment mogul, magazine
editor, philanthropist, awards judge and music executive. Lee as she is fondly
called started her career as a teenager with her first job as a Radio Presenter
before going on to host and produce some of Africa’s biggest entertainment
shows. Today, she stands out as one of the leading lights in contemporary African
entertainment and headed respected pan-African Music channel, Channel
O.
OVATION caught up with
Lee in her home in Johannesburg,South Africa.
Reading up on your
family, I would consider the Nsibirwa family as the Kennedys of Uganda. Your maternal
great grandfather was Martin Luther Nsibirwa who was Prime Minister of Uganda
while his son, Paul Munyagwa Nsibirwa brought TV to Uganda. We imagine your
childhood wasn’t like the average, what was it like growing up under the responsibility
of your heritage
The Kennedys’ of Uganda I like
that, funny I never see it like that. It’s really strange, because that is
primarily my maternal family and I grew up fairly close to my dad’s side of the
family. Because we spent so much time outside Uganda, my sisters and I were
never aware of the influence of the family. Also when we were with my mom’s
family it was all normal so to speak. Oddly enough, it was after my mom passed
as we graduated from high school that we were given a deeper view into our
heritage. My relatives used to refer to my great grandfather Martin Luther
Nsibirwa- I still remember picturing Martin Luther King. It was quite funny; my
aunt Esther explained it to me finally. He actually was Prime Minister twice
and was assassinated outside Namirembe Cathedral. He is buried there too. Oddly
enough that’s where he got married too. I literally had to go to the cathedral to
believe the story.
After learning all this, I
started to do more studies about the family, I was shown the genealogy tree and
everything and now it’s pretty much normal to me. Generally the Nsibirwa clan
do not have any airs or pretentiousness about them. There are so many of us and
everyone works really hard. Lately, we now have an online family tree and there
is also a family email, to make announcements of who is getting married and
everything else. (Laughs)
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