TAKEAWAYS

• Oliver Nakakande has criticised Mary Luswata’s apology to Juliana Kanyomozi.
• Luswata said motherhood helped her understand why her earlier comments about Kanyomozi’s loss were insensitive.
• Nakakande questioned why it took nearly 10 years for Luswata to apologise.

Former Miss Uganda Oliver Nakakande has criticised former television presenter Mary Luswata over her recent apology to singer Juliana Kanyomozi, describing it as vague and lacking genuine empathy.

Luswata issued the apology while appearing in an interview with Prim Asiimwe, where she expressed regret over comments she made about Kanyomozi following the death of the singer’s son, Keron Kabugo, in 2014.

Luswata said she now regrets the words she used at the time, describing them as insensitive and borderline evil. She explained that becoming a mother to two children had helped her understand the pain Kanyomozi went through and recognise that her earlier comments were wrong.

However, Nakakande has questioned why it took Luswata nearly a decade to apologise.

“Why did it take you 10 years to realise that what you said was wrong?” Nakakande questioned, arguing that empathy should not require someone to experience the same pain personally.

Nakakande also argued that Luswata’s comments had affected several people in Uganda’s entertainment industry, making her decision to specifically apologise to Kanyomozi appear incomplete.

“The fact that you had to first have children to understand what Juliana went through shows that there was no empathy,” Nakakande said.

She further noted that Kanyomozi endured the loss of her son after personally nursing him and watching him pass away, making the singer’s experience particularly painful.

Nakakande said Kanyomozi remains a national treasure, pointing to the overwhelming public joy that followed when the singer welcomed another child years later.

For Nakakande, Luswata’s apology does not fully address the weight of the hurt caused by her earlier remarks.