MUKULU TRIBUTE: The Alex Mukulu you may not have known

What the report says

The Independent Uganda published an obituary-style tribute to Ugandan theatre figure Alex Mukulu, after news of his death on August 15. The piece says many people first knew him as the blunt judge on Bukedde Television’s Yolesa Ekitone, but argues that this public image captured only a small part of his career and influence.

According to the article, Mukulu was also a teacher, philosopher, composer, director, actor, playwright and a major force in Ugandan theatre. The tribute focuses especially on one of his plays, Akattambwa, describing it as a wide-ranging musical production that mixed English, Luganda and Kiswahili and used theatre to confront politics, religion, disease, sexuality, poverty, corruption and social hypocrisy. The writer presents the play as a reflection on Uganda’s history and, more broadly, the post-independence African experience.

A central example in the article is a “madman” character who collects discarded items, including used condoms, to expose the hidden actions and pretences of respectable society. The piece uses that character to explain Mukulu’s style: he often forced audiences to question who is truly “mad” in a broken society. The tribute suggests his work mattered because it pushed viewers beyond entertainment and toward self-examination, especially on the country’s social and political failures.