Are they being pushed to become lesbian quartet?
Posted by African Press International on June 17, 2008
Pushing girls as they are to form lesbian quartet is not tasty especially when they are not saying they are. Read the article and make up your mind. API
Girls on girls
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| Nini Wacera |
The moment one walks into either Pasara, Java Coffee House (along Mama Ngina Street) or Lavazza, you are likely to notice the four girls chatting animatedly at the corner of one of the restaurants. The four ‘sisters’ are easily recognizable from their outlandish hairstyles.
Their style and mode of dressing – casual hip – tells a lot about their personalities. These are examples of the young Kenyan ladies of today – smart, good-looking and going places. The beautiful actress-cum-radio presenter Nini Wacera, is easily recognizable among the pack: she is sporting baby locks, Serah Mwihaki has a set of dreadlocks as well and former breakfast presenter Valentine Njoroge, is basically close cropped. Laura Walubengo has just stopped short of chopping everything off and has settled for a Halle Berry type cut.
Nini is in a great mood as she greets us on her way to the counter to buy take away coffee to keep her awake during her raunchy late night show.
“I’m now going to report to duty,” she says as we walk out for a quiet interview. Before I can ask my first question, Nini sets the pace by shooting off her own set of questions. “What do you want to know about me? Is it about my baby or about winning Chaguo La Teeniez best actress award?” Before I could answer she tells me to hold her coffee, lights a cigarette, takes a deep puff and blows out the smoke as she categorically announces that she is not a drama queen as perceived in some sections of the media.
“I’m just Nini and there is no drama in my life,” she says. Drama or no drama, Nini is a controversial figure in celeb circles and her on-air characters are certainly not short of drama. She is hugely talented and her acting prowess in ‘Dangerous Affair’ and the TV soap opera ‘Wingu La Moto’ is simply breathtaking.
And now she is looking forward to scooping the Best Actress trophy tomorrow. “I believe that my only challenger in the category is Mama Kayai,” she adds. Nini believes that Mama Kayai is hugely popular because she set the trend on screen acting.
If Nini is talented on the screen then she is just as vivacious on the air. She keeps her listeners awake in the wee hours of the night with her raunchy talk. “I don’t fake anything, it’s just the reality that listeners want to hear,” she explains.
The trailblazing actress and presenter believes in shaping the life of her daughter for future success. Currently she takes her for dance lessons every weekend. “She started with salsa but now she is doing ballet,” she adds.
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| Serah Mwihaki |
But beyond the acting and being a good mother, the presenter seems to attract controversy whenever she makes any move. She showed up at the launch of Cosmopolitan Kenya in a negligee. The ensemble consisted of fishnet stockings and nothing else.
“What was wrong with that outfit? Of wearing nothing under?” she poses. “Kenya is too humid and wearing underwear can cause yeast infections. Just ask any gynaecologist in this city.”
Nini is a loyal member of the ‘ngothaless’ society and her sentiments do not hide it. The easier to get up to all sorts of things in public? I ask her about allegations that she was caught having a quickie in a Nairobi Campsite loo. “Those were malicious rumours I did not have sex with anyone,” she says.
According to reliable sources, she was having a drink with her friends at Campsite when the roving hands with a married male companion hit a crescendo. The two allegedly decided to continue in the loo but hawkeyed watchmen squelched their passion. Nini reportedly had a verbal exchange with the waiters, with insults flying. A physical confrontation ensued and the she ended up with such bad bruises that she could not go to work for a couple of days.
But Nini still maintains that the story was a total fabrication. “There was no fight whatsoever and it was a Friday, I don’t report to work until Monday,” she says.
She says that her friendship with pals Serah, Laura and Valentine has raised eyebrows. Critics believe that there is more to their friendship than meets the eye. Nini admits she once French-kissed Valentine in a Nairobi club. “What is wrong with kissing her? It is just exchange of saliva which is very therapeutic,” she explains. She adds that she has kissed all her friends but maintains that she is not a lesbian. “I’m not bisexual or a lesbian but I admire women’s bodies because they are great,” she adds.
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| Laura Walubengo |
After having the interview with Nini, I sought to know all about her friend Serah Mwihaki. We hastily scheduled a meeting for the next day at LaVazza. The soft-spoken and almost shy producer-cum-actress looked at me with contempt but later loosened up after two mugs of European coffee. Between the coffee sips she denied being a lesbian. “I just hang around some lesbian friends,” she says. Asked whether she has ever kissed Nini, she could only manage a ‘no comment’ answer. “I’m a private person and I cannot comment on our friendship,” she adds.
She did confess that six years ago her curiosity led her to kiss another girl. Serah explains that she did not think twice once the girl brought her lips close to hers.
“I was curious and kissed her,” she says. “I can tell you though, that it’s nothing to write home about. Since then I decided to stick to boys.”
The ‘Wingu la Moto’ and ‘Dangerous Affair’ co-star says that it was the only time that she experimented and that she has never swung to the ladies side. “I hear a lot of rumours about us being lesbians but it is total bulls**t,” she says.
And she adds that such rumours have not affected her. “There was a time that I met a friend and when we went to the loo together another friend was vibing badly. Nimezoea. I know I’m straight,” she adds.
The actress is now working on a series script about young married couples. “I think it is better than writing about cheating friends,” she adds.
Away from the controversy, Serah landed on screen by chance. She had gone to look for a job as part of the filming crew during the casting of Dangerous Affair when the director asked her to try out for the role. “They had a problem finding a suitable person for the part and she requested me to try it out. I eventually got the part,” she recalls. When she received the news she was not sure that they actually were calling the right person. “I told them to check again because I had not acting experience.”
And that’s how she got her acting career started. The next stop was Wingu La Moto and recently she was part of the production team for the Hollywood acclaimed movie that was shot in Kenya, The Constant Gardener.
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| Valentine Njoroge |
“You can see my name in the credits,” she brags. Currently she is looking for sponsors to fund her movie projects. Later, I tried to reach former presenter Valentine Njoroge but she was ice cold. “I’m not going to give an interview,” she said. Capital FM newsreader Laura Walubengo was more forthcoming and has also denied that they are lesbians. “To my knowledge, we are just people who respect each other and are influenced by each other,” she says.
Laura added that a lot of people just make suppositions about their relationships. “A few people have asked me about it and I have told them the truth,” she avers. Laura explained that it is funny to be associated with lesbianism while she has been involved romantically with men. “I’ve had my flings with some jamaas,” she clarifies.
The presenter says that she met Nini a few years ago in Java through a certain friend.
“She and Valentine Njoroge were already good friends, we hooked up as pals,” she says.
Laura helped Nini get a job at Capital FM. The two friends share the same passion for acting and radio presenting. Laura landed on radio as a wide-eyed 20-year-old from Nanyuki and has steadily risen up through the ranks. She is now appearing in the local soap ‘Pumzika’. “I love drawing portraits,” she enthuses. The multitalented presenter speaks fluent Hindi having lived in India during her early child hood. “I had culture shock because of change of environment. I had never seen kids going to school bare feet,” she adds.
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African Press International – API, source.standard.ke
