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A man named Mukabadda has told a story that will make many people stop and think. He spent three full days locked inside a wardrobe in a married woman’s house. He was later beaten almost to death and thrown into the bush near Mbiko. The story is not presented as entertainment. It is presented as a confession and a warning.
Joseph Mbazzi Muguluma, writing as the Oracle of Kifuuta, has published the full account. It is told in the first person, as confessions from Mbiko to Bulumagi, offered to the gods of Kifuuta, Kyotera and Buddu.
Who is Mukabadda and what did he confess?
Mukabadda is the man at the centre of the story. He admits that he had sworn at the old shrine in Kifuuta never to chase other men’s wives again. For weeks he lived like a born-again man — clean and proud. Then he met a woman called Nawozantya and every resolution disappeared.
He describes her as a woman who was “beautifully brought up,” who managed her home like a queen, and whose voice was “sweet and clear like water in a calabash.” Her husband, Wafula, was a Sabulenya trader who spent long periods on the road between Tanzania and Zaire. The house was often empty.
Mukabadda says his mouth betrayed him one day. He told her she had started appearing in his dreams. She did not answer with words. She looked at him, moved closer, and the affair began.
How did the secret meetings work?
Whenever Wafula travelled for business, Mukabadda would arrive the same night after the dust settled. He even prayed for the husband’s success so that the man would leave again quickly.
“I even prayed for his business! Can you imagine? I, Mukabadda, on my knees: ‘Lord, let his fish sell quickly so he goes back to buy more!’ I wanted him to succeed so I could sin faster.”
He left before sunrise every time. He describes the life of a man in another man’s house as the life of a soldier: one ear open, one eye open, shoes near the feet, trousers half on. He gave Nawozantya handmade gifts. Her children were forced to sleep early so they never saw him. For a long time the arrangement worked.
What happened on the night everything collapsed?
Wafula had left, but midway he remembered he had forgotten his National ID. Without it he could not cross the border. He turned back.
At that exact moment Mukabadda and Nawozantya were laughing to a radio comedy programme. Then they heard the husband’s voice outside calling her name.
Mukabadda jumped, knocked over a table, and was pushed into the wardrobe. Nawozantya closed the door on him.
Wafula entered, asked for food, and stayed. The next morning he decided not to travel that week. He ordered a chicken slaughtered, called a neighbour, and opened beer. Mukabadda remained inside the wardrobe, smelling the dresses and his own fear.
Wafula later spoke a proverb that the trapped man understood was meant for him:
“A rat that mocks a trap while going about its business does not worry until it sets the trap off. That is how trouble catches a thief. Eziga ly’emese, amaziga g’embeba.”
That evening Wafula took Nawozantya with him to visit an elder and locked the house. Mukabadda spent the night inside the wardrobe. He urinated where he stood. Hunger and thirst became unbearable. He called on the gods of Kifuuta.
How did Mukabadda finally get out of the wardrobe?
When the couple returned, they brought more people. Wafula had told them an animal had been caught in his trap. Mukabadda could no longer stay silent. He shouted from the darkness that he was dying.
They opened the wardrobe carefully, holding sticks and pangas, thinking it might be a spirit. When light hit his eyes the beating began. He was beaten until he lost consciousness. Then they threw him into the bush near Nakibizi in Mbiko and left him for dead.
Nawozantya disappeared that same night and has not been seen by him since.
Mukabadda crawled home at midnight. He says the gods of Kifuuta had other plans for him. He survived.
What lessons does Mukabadda say the story teaches?
He insists this is not just a sex story. It is a school. He lists four clear lessons:
- The thirst has no bottom.
“I thought if I got one, I would be satisfied. Vain! The more you drink from another man’s well, the thirstier you become.” - The house of another man has no second door.
You enter as a hero and leave as a thief. A wardrobe is not a bedroom. When the owner returns, there is nowhere to go. - Forbidden love has no loyalty.
When trouble came, Nawozantya ran. She did not claim him as her visitor. She vanished. In that moment he was no longer a lover. He was a problem to be abandoned. - You will pray against yourself.
He prayed for Wafula’s business to prosper so that he could continue the affair. His own prayers became a form of witchcraft against himself.
What does Mukabadda say to Nawozantya now?
He ends the confession with an open invitation. He says his wounds have healed and he is a new man. He asks anyone who knows where Nawozantya lives to tell her that the Oracle is waiting. He offers to provide transport so they can sit and talk about everything that happened after she fled.
He adds that even if she were dead, he would still want to see her one last time, just to calm a troubled heart.
The final line of the piece is a warning wrapped in local wisdom:
“If you have never been in a wardrobe, don’t judge a man in a wardrobe.”
The story is published under the Lifestyle & Relationships section and carries the cultural signature of the Oracle of Kifuuta — confessions told to the gods of Kifuuta, Kyotera and Buddu.
