In a heart-wrenching, soul-baring conversation on Shalon256 You Tube Channel, with Shalom and Frank Ntambi, Edwin Katamba, widely known as MC Kats, the celebrated TV host peeled back the curtain on the darkest chapter of his life, how the intoxicating high of fame led him into the shadows of HIV.
What began as a cheerful reflection on his rise to stardom gradually transformed into an emotional confession. Kats spoke softly, but with unmistakable weight, about the reckless nightlife that came with his work: the parties that never ended, the crowds that worshipped him, and the women who reached for a piece of him simply because he was the man of the moment.
He revealed how women flocked around him, not just out of admiration but often used as pawns by those who wanted access to him.
“That hype I was in is how I got HIV,” he admitted, eyes lowered. “It was too much… I was entertaining a whole generation. Clubs every night. Students flying in from London. Working at Rogue, Governor… alcohol everywhere.”
Those were the glory days, days when a celebrity didn’t even need to greet a woman to get her attention. “You’d just send them away,” he said with a faint, bittersweet smile. ‘Go tell your friend I like him…’ That’s all it took,” he recalled how they used to do it.
But behind the glamour was a darker truth. Kats disclosed that even some of his friends exploited the women trying to reach him. Some women were used as bargaining chips, an unspoken condition to get close to the star.
“There are things I’ve never talked about,” he said, with a tremor in his voice. “People who are still alive, still in the limelight. Even older women in the industry… They used me.”
He recalled how he was being taken along on tours, seat silently in cars while enjoying band performances, and his presence merely a commodity to some female musicians. But when he fell ill, the same people distanced themselves without a word.
He revealed that the first symptoms were terrifying and lonely: “AIDS attacks you in silence,” he said softly. “You grow thin alone. You vomit alone. You fight denial alone.”
As Uganda prepares for World AIDS Day 2025, Kats’ story lands with a sobering resonance. He recounted how only one person, journalist from the Daily Monitor then, Darius Mugisha, had the courage to confront him when his health was visibly deteriorating.
“At the P-Square show at Victoria Nile, I was coughing badly.DariusMugisha took me aside, counselled me, carried me down the stairs to the parking yard and put me in an Uber. He saved my life that night.”
Friends deserted
Kats revealed that own friends started deserting him, choosing other tables at the bar, leaving him behind, avoiding the reality of his illness. He felt abandoned by the very world he once entertained and cared for.
He wasn’t entirely alone.
In a revelation that stunned viewers, Kats spoke tenderly about Singer Fille Mutoni, the woman stood by him all through.
“God helped me through Fille,” he said, voice thick with emotion. “She met me when I was already sick. She knew from day one.”
He recalled the first night they were together, his fear, her faith: “I told her, what if I infect you? She said, ‘Let’s put everything in God’s hands.”
Despite the risks, despite the chaos, despite the fear, Fille stood by him when musicians and friends turned away.
“People say I superglue on Fille,” he said with a soft laugh. “But they will never break that bond between us. Even if we’re with other people… she remains special. She stood with me when everyone else walked away.”
In sharing his truth, MC Kats turns his pain into purpose, a reminder that behind the flashing lights and fame are human beings grappling with real scars.
His testimony is not just a story of survival, but a call for compassion, awareness, and courage as the world marks yet another year in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
