Year ender: When Sematimba treaded where the average man with loose morals treads

Where is Pastor Peter Sematimba? Did he go to his village in California? He has been in hibernation. This has nothing to do with the fact that he lost his Busiro South MP seat.

In June, he was in the news for taking a nubile and naïve Joan Namatovu “process by process”, messing her mind and loins. This ended in a final eruption of pleasure and a child to show.

Those who know the entrepreneur tell you he is a neat freak.  From poise, posture and big talk, he looks like the last person to plead with a house help to scrub his back!

Sematimba is the embodiment of corporate living – the type that you expected to look at a lowly house help with disdain. The love doctor in him thought otherwise. He was in the news for treading where only the average man with loose morals can tread.

When his story broke, where Namatovu, a former house help, accused him of luring her “process  by  process”, one distinct image refused to leave my mind. I imagined Sematimba lounged in a scented bubble bath tub and calling out to the maid: “Joaan kikwano… jangu onkuuure omugongow.” What followed was the housemaid drawn by Sematimba’s strong Issey Miyake scent and Californian accent, shrugging her shoulders and muttering, “Why not?”

For starters, she had a “city born” look.  As she went about scrubbing his back, she actually realised she loved everything about it: the sensations, the smells, and the feel of Sematimba’s sinewy body pressed against hers.

Like a carefully choreographed script, there was friction that ended in a final eruption of pleasure. That was 10 years ago.  When the case was unearthed in 2021, it caused a furore.

Peter Sematimba case divided opinion
For some women, Sematimba lacks a backbone. He is a jellyfish. Even with his official wife away in the US, they expected him to fish better even if his loins throbbed to near disfiguration over lack of sex.  Why go for mukene (silver cyprinid) when there is tuna?

“Who sleeps with a housemaid? Sematimba with all his class and money is an embarrassment. What he did is unforgiveable. He has just proved that he, like many men, lacks emotional and intellectual maturity,” a one Betty Mutesi lashed on social media.

Mutesi, a sworn feminist, argued that Sematimba’s cowardly act of “taking advantage of a hapless maid” was a common trait with many men  regardless of whether they were married or not.

“This is the problem with many black men. They are emotionally immature and undeveloped in the mind as well. They feel more connect to hapless juveniles because they lack the emotional and intellectual maturity to deal with women their age,” she said.

Mutesi revealed that most married men these days cannot see anything outside of the female anatomy.  Leaving them in close proximity with housemaids is enough to cheat.

For some women, Sematimba lacks a backbone. He is a jellyfish. Even with his official wife away in the US, they expected him to fish better even if his loins throbbed to near disfiguration over lack of sex.  Why go for mukene (silver cyprinid) when there is tuna?

Some men who The Kampala Sun spoke to on condition of anonymity were not quick to castigate Sematimba.

“We need to look at the circumstances. When he approached her to scrub his back, he saw her as a woman and not a maid.  She is not complaining of rape or something.  It is about custody. If it was consensual, I see no problem. Unless you have a very strong moral compass, you have no right to blast Sematimba,” one said.

They punched holes in Namatovu’s confession and believed that she and Sematimba had sex numerous times.

“What kept taking this woman to his home to give him the sex that he supposedly used her for? We should focus on the custody battle.”

Singer and presidential adviser Catherine Kusasira also revealed that loneliness led Sematimba into the arms of the house help.

According to Kusasira, if Sematimba had a wife at home, it would have been a different story.  She blamed some women for driving their men to the point of opening up to house helps.

“Some women take their husbands for granted. For Sematimba’s case, the wife was away.  Did you want him to mount a cow?” she asked

A furious Pastor Martin Sempa asked Sematimba to apologise for giving pastors a bad name.

“What he did is an abomination. Before he goes to courts of law, Sematimba needs to go to heavenly court, kneel down and ask God for forgiveness.  He needs to denounce these acts and become Born Again in flesh and heart,” he argued.

“He has desecrated our name with his weakness in body.  He needs to apologise,” Sempa maintained.

Pro Bono: Lawyers line up to help Joan in legal battle

 At the height of the incident, a group of city lawyers offered to help Namatovu. She claimed that Sematimba dragged her to court with intentions of taking full custody of their daughter. Namatovu was overwhelmed by the support and was particularly grateful to former ethics minister Miria Matembe, and FIDA Uganda who offered full support.

Lawyer Luyimbazi Nalukoola led a team ready to defend Namatovu.

“We are very ready to ensure she gets justice. We, however, advise her at the moment to stop the media appearances,” he cautioned.

Namatovu stopped the media interviews, and it was also the last we heard from Sematimba. He went silent ‘process by process’.