Kawempe North Member of Parliament Erias Luyimbazi Nalukoola has revealed that Jamaican dancehall star Shaggy played an unexpected role in inspiring his early interest in music.
Nalukoola said he was drawn to Shaggy’s relaxed musical style, particularly because he felt the Jamaican star’s laid-back delivery mirrored his own personality and way of speaking.
“Shaggy used to sing and he had a bit of something that goes slow, which is similar to me since I’m a man who also speaks and goes slow, so I was somehow inspired,” Nalukoola said.
That connection with Shaggy’s style encouraged Nalukoola to give music a try while he was still in school.
Rather than pointing to the superstar’s fame or stage presence, Nalukoola highlighted the slower, more relaxed quality of Shaggy’s delivery as the element that resonated with him.
But music was only one part of Nalukoola’s early journey before politics became a major part of his public life.
He also reflected on his involvement in Uganda’s political activism during the OTT protests, when several people were arrested and taken to court.
Nalukoola recalled going to the Buganda Road Chief Magistrate’s Court to provide legal representation for some of the protesters.
“During the OTT protests, many of our people were arrested and taken to court. I went and stood as their lawyer at the Buganda Road Magistrates Court.”
That experience, according to Nalukoola, brought him into deeper engagement with political activism.
He also remembered an encounter with Eddie Mutwe ahead of Uganda’s 2021 general elections. Nalukoola said Mutwe asked him which political position he intended to contest, but he responded that he had no plans to run for office.
“I even remember one time Eddie Mutwe asked me which position I wanted to stand for in the 2021 general election, and I responded by telling him that I didn’t want to stand for any position.”8
Nalukoola’s recollection paints an unusual picture of the path that eventually led him into elected politics: an early fascination with Shaggy’s laid-back musical style, followed by legal activism and involvement in political affairs.
The music ambition may have started with a Jamaican dancehall influence, but Nalukoola’s public career ultimately took him in a very different direction.