Arua’s sensational Papa Wemba

Papa Wemba had travelled 520kms from Arua and accessed Parliament precincts for the first time in his life as a guest accompanying Ayivu East MP Geofrey Feta.

He had been the new MP’s chief mobiliser during campaigns and the trip to the August House was a reward and treat, but it turned out the multi-talented quadragenarian’s moment of fame.

Spotting a rear double-belt vila vis trouser suspended above his naval, a tucked in tie and wearing wide-brimmed hat, Papa Wemba ambled forward boastfully with a spring in his feet.

 He bent and waved from an angle when a battery of journalists began clicking away. In measured confident steps, and straddling behind Mr Feta and alongside the latter’s sister Rosette Obizuyo, Papa Wemba’s few minutes’ walk to the swearing-in lectern and in-motion startling antics set him a class apart.  

He thundered into an instant national sensation, gaining boundless social media traction. The ensuing debate revealed a confusion among netizens about whether the 42-year-old was himself a new MP or not, and whether it was a man or woman.

A man, he is, and originally from Orionzi hamlet in Ariwara Ward in Arua City’s eastern Dadamu Sub-county.

That Papa Wemba – named after the stage name of Congolese rumba maestro Jules Shungu Wembadio - stole the new lawmakers’ thunder is an understatement.

And yesterday when he turned up at Namuwongo, this time chauffeured by MP Feta, staff scrambled for a photo-shoot with Papa Wemba and he infatuated with majestic steps and comical poses.

Wearing another vila vis khaki double belted trouser, lavender shirt and a brimmed hat, he flashed smile that revealed his white teeth, contrasting his dark complexion.
His story is that of a jolly childhood cut short when his Idi Amin-era soldier and fashion-loving father Marcelo Odaa passed in December 1977.

Born in a barracks in the eastern Tororo District, and shifting to Arua later, Papa Wemba’s life after the father’s demise was a miserable one is which his mother Lina Candiru’s struggle could barely get the family through.

“I come from a poor background and I could not continue with education because my parents could not afford the school fees; so, I stopped in Senior Four,” he said.

The elder of his only sibling Nelson Andruvile, Papa Wemba took primary classes at Ojipaku and Ombaci schools before studying O-Level Ombatini Secondary School.

Formal education may have eluded him before Senior Four, but today, he is a man of many talents rolled into one: businessman, entertainer, chairman of Arsenal Football Club fans in West Nile, solid family man and a staunch Catholic, who by next month, will graduate as a Catechist!

At home, he originally supported Viper Foot Club, but began sharing his allegiance when home-side Onduparaka Football Club emerged.
Papa Wemba runs a general merchandise shop in Arua City, next to Hass fuel station on Rhino-camp Road, but he is more known for comedy skits and dance performances – talents he uses to lead fundraisings mainly for churches.

Video clips of his Congolese music dance strokes are a sensation and Papa Wemba, who perfected his dance-floor exploits in the Democratic Republic of Congo, says he is doing everything under the sun, including investing his business returns and earnings from performances to educate his five children to university “so that when I die, they will say he was the father of graduates”.

“I will make sure I provide for them so that they can study up to university since I did not reach there,” he said.
His business has flourished and atrophied, risen from the ashes to new hazard. But he is not abdicating the struggle. 
 
Papa Wemba lost merchandise and his businessmen collapsed after marauding Joseph Kony-led Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels, on four different occasions, looted his goods during ambushes on Arua-bound buses in Murchison Falls National Park.

“I was a businessman, but unfortunately the Kony rebels robbed me and my colleagues for about four times and from there, I became a boda boda cyclist because I had lost everything,” he recollects.

He raised some money and rebounded to entrepreneurship in 2011, but it was short-lived after gunmen attacked him in Arua Town and robbed Shs4 million, plunging him back to poverty.

“I only found myself in the hospital and I could not remember what happened. All I heard before I was attacked was that you will die very soon,” he said during yesterday’s interview.
He has learnt from the past and is planning on building houses to safeguard against future shocks as of the past.

Into entertainment
At school, Papa Wemba was a dramatist and dancer, loved watching videos of Congolese musician Papa Wemba’s songs and found a kind of windfall when he began comedy skits and dancing at mainly church functions.

Breakthrough
“One time, we were invited to compete in Aru in DRC. Two of us came from Arua, one from Aru and another from Ombgokolo to compete.

 That time we were supposed to raise funds for the church and whoever wins would be rewarded. I managed to entertain people and raised Shs49 million alone, while others were raising Shs17 million and below and we managed to raise more than Shs100 million that day,” he said.

He emerged winner and was rewarded with two new motorcycles and a flat screen television. Now he earns about Shs300,000 a week from entertaining patrons.

To Papa Wemba, fundraising for the church is what gives him pleasure. A member of Ojulua Chapel under Christ the King parish in Arua City, Papa Wemba says they have over the past two years raised enough money to construct the wall of the chapel, which they completed within five years.

On Demand
Since the Tuesday lightning rise to fame, Papa Wemba’s phone has been ringing off the hook, with many admirers making offers to hire him to perform.

Aware his brand is up a notch higher, Papa Wemba says he does not want to sign any deal until guided by a professional manager.
Ms Obizuyo is stepping in to help in the meantime and wants any offers to protect Papa’s interests and respect his right as a family and religious man.

“I am not an expert, but I will make sure I consult him and others to ensure he succeeds in what he does. We shall work as a team to protect his image because he is a religious person…,” she said.

Background
Unique fashion
As a soldier, his father wore well pressed uniforms and regular clothing and his shoes gleamed.

“One time I had a dream … to be unique and not copy others if I wanted to succeed. So, that is how I initiated the dressing style I use today,” he said.
His tailor, Papa Asia from DRC, has relocated to Arua and charges Shs325,000 for each set of vila vis trouser and shirt. The fashion has fascinated others and one man who tried it found the cloth was more work than wearing.

“My friend tried it for two days and gave up on it. You know these things fit according to body shape. God made my body so nice that this fashion fits me very well. He also made me so handsome and actually, I am the handsomest of all the men you see,” Papa said as MP Feta and his sister Obizuyo, who were present at the interview, cracked up.

Social Media comments

“Unedited version of joy. Just being real,”
Peace Athocon Nyakuni
“You definitely gave us some serious entertainment,” Noryn Nkuraija
“One thing about West Nile, they know the real meaning of having fun,” Sulaiman Miiro
“Two belts for the first time in the history. West Nile is full of surprises,” Patrick Andima