94-year-old Nulu Ssemakula had 19 wives and over 100 children and one would have thought he’d seen it all but that’s not the case.
The 94-year-old’s sexual drive is as potent as a 20-year-old as he recently added four more wives—hiking the number to 23—intending to sire more children.
Ssemakula’s matrimonial prowess made him stand out in Ruyonza, which is a largely polygamous village in Uganda. According to reports, Ssemakula married his first wife in 1952. Five others joined her in no time and they still live together.
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The nonagenarian’s youngest child is 10 months old while the youngest wife, who is 24, is pregnant.
The man, who currently lives with 66 of his children, told The Daily Monitor he lost four of his wives while letting go of those who needed more than he could give.
“I let them go. But they left me with children,” he disclosed, adding almost defiantly: “I will still marry more if I still have more years and even have more children. In children and wives, is where I find my pleasure. That is my true wealth.”
Described as soft-spoken and a center of command, Ssemakula steps out every morning with the energy and clarity of a young person, looking well dressed and exuding affluence.
He would, therefore, explain his personality to The Daily Monitor, saying: “When you have many children and many wives, it is like managing the country. You have to pray for the wisdom to know when you must but be serious and when you need to lighten the mood.”
Acknowledging the enormity of his family, Ssemakula has a mosque and a primary school, a coffee huller and a diary cooling machine in the village to cater adequately for his family. He’s surrounded by homes of his children and grandchildren.
As a typical agricultural family, Ssemakula observed that when the family sets out for a task “we must make sure we complete it before we go home, that is what we do every working day.”
As it is typical of huge households, it is always difficult if not impossible to identify which child belongs to who or sometimes the name of a particular child. As a result, the onus lies on the oldest of the wives, Shadia Tumuheirwe, to take care of everyone.
“I have to take care of everyone here. And everyone who has a complaint has to pass it through me, that is what protocol demands. if anyone comes to him without first telling me, he will dismiss it and invite me first.
“We are used to that arrangement. When it is work time, we all must wake up and work, there is no exception except the elderly wife whom we all call mama. We cook, eat, work together and sleep under the same roof,” she said.
Apart from farming, Ssemakula operates a hotel and according to him, one of his former clients, the deputy Ugandan Attorney General Mwesigwa Rukutana, always wonders how he manages effortlessly to manage his large household.
“He once told me he got the inspiration from me to marry more than one wife,” Ssemakula said.
