Even if You Bring 200M! Grace Nakimera Vows Never To Go Secular Again.

It might be hurting to still read this but that’s it and it will forever rub in our faces. That is about former vibrant secular dancehall singer, Grace Nakimera.

Breaking through the Uganda musical scene in 2005 with ‘Ani Akumanyi’ featuring Pentagon and Gatimo, Nakimera undoubtedly shook the industry with her vocal strength and uniqueness in music style thereon. Well, she enjoyed her moment, doing this kind of music till she stepped back for some time.

Media reports have it that the ‘Kawonawo’ singer attributes this to witchcraft that was acted on her. However, this experience drove her to a whole different vibe ― doing gospel music. Her latest songs like Anvirideyo, Yansasira, Kaba Kristo, and Twalibaddewa define her newer self. Not forgetting her former gospel alienated songs like ‘Onyamba Nga Mukama’ and ‘Kawonawo’.

Speaking to 97.7 Record FM in an interview, Nakimera revealed that no matter what situation or money, she can never do secular music again regardless of whether her fans like it or would wish to hire her for. Adding that she now pleases God not man.

“Even if someone comes with 200M, I can’t deny Christ. Christ has already blessed me in his own way and I am very okay and comfortable. I can’t say that I am now hungry to desperately look for money. NO. With my Spirit, I can’t deny the God that was there for me to please man. I can’t make a person happy and make my God unhappy. But I love my fans because truth be said they have been there for me for very many years. Sometimes I meet people along the way and the love they pour out to me is so overwhelming. I didn’t expect people to even hear my sound at this point. I am always humbled and grateful for that. I am letting people and all my fans know how much God loves them,” Nakimera said.

She went on to say that the time was enough she did secular music for and is grateful for that time. However, now is time when she is in another phase, a phase of appreciating God for He lightened her darkest of days when no one could.

“I did secular music for more than ten years. However, people grow and change. Even with my music, I am a very honest person in that I usually sing about what experiences I am going through. I passed the phase of singing ‘Bwoba sexy’ and I am at this phase where I am grown up, so much has changed, plus, I appreciate God because he has done for me things I can hardly explain. I can’t sing ‘Ekibaala kinyuma’ for I even don’t remember the time I was last in a bar but I can now sing ‘Twalibaddewa singa Kristo teyajja’ because I believe that if Jesus wasn’t there for me I would be dead,” she explained.

Nakimera, now a fully devoted born-again Christian, says that she is forever humbled and grateful to the Lord for seeing her through the dead ends of her life. Sitting at the knife-edge, Nakimera said that it was only God she cried out to and answered her plea.

She said, “I think this also happens to a few people, to some it happens and they miss it, or it hasn’t happened yet and they neither understand nor care about such a situation. This happened to me in a way that I was put in a corner and realised there was nothing I could do. I understood that not even money or fame could do anything for me, no doctor could help me, not science or any other thing on earth could help me. In that corner, what helped me was God. Actually, when one gets out well from such a situation, they come with a different mindset and wholly change for they then know what is important.”

Adding that, “So I understood that I can never be buried with money, fame can’t help even calling out for a mother’s help can’t do a thing. It is only God that I called and answered me, got me out of that situation and gave me strength to win over anything and everything that was putting me in that corner. For that reason alone, I am enlightened and know that there is no one and nothing that can help one out of the difficulty they are in apart from God. I am forever humbled and I think I should write a book about this experience.”

Some music critics argue that if Nakimera was still doing secular music and based on the vibe she brought up formerly as a dancehall female artist, her name would ever be at the peak. However, thinking of this to happen again is like saying, ‘If the sky falls, we shall catch larks’.