TAKEAWAYS

• Betty Mpologoma says she feared accepting stage money due to alleged witchcraft practices.
• The singer recalled mysteriously getting paralyzed during a live performance early in her career.
• She later left Diamond Ensemble and launched her solo career in 2005.

Veteran Ugandan singer Betty Mpologoma has opened up about the dangers she believes come with accepting money from fans while performing on stage.

Mpologoma, who rose to fame in the late 1990s and early 2000s, revealed that she began her music journey under the late Kato Lubwama in the famous Diamond Ensemble band. At the peak of her career in the group, she says she was among the highest-paid singers, earning about Shs20,000 per performance at the time — an amount she says would be equivalent to nearly Shs200,000 today.

According to the “Londa Enamba” singer, it was common for fans to shower musicians with cash during performances, a practice that still exists in Uganda’s entertainment industry today. However, she says she rarely accepted the money personally because of fears linked to witchcraft and bad intentions from some fans.

Mpologoma explained that many artists believed not everyone who handed out money did so with good intentions. Some allegedly used the opportunity to bewitch or spiritually sabotage performers. Because of this, she always had someone else collect the money on her behalf, and in many cases, she would never spend it.

The singer further recalled one frightening incident during her early years in music when she suddenly became paralyzed while performing on stage. She says her body appeared physically fine, but she mysteriously lost the ability to stand and had to complete the performance while seated in a chair.

Mpologoma revealed that her boss at the time, Kato Lubwama, warned those around him against interfering with his singers, claiming he had spiritual powers and would retaliate against anyone trying to harm them.

She noted that competition among singers in bands was intense at the time, and she believes jealousy may have contributed to the incident. Mpologoma later left Diamond Ensemble and embarked on her solo music career in 2005.