"Fame is sweet, divorce isn't" One FM presenter Paul Mbuvi opens up

One FM presenter Paul Mung’ala Mbuvi is also an actor, comedian and voice artist. He opens up to us about ending his marriage after only 10 days and what fame taught him about life.

So you are a; Kenyan timer'? You're an hour late for the interview...

Sorry about that. I was talking to my lawyer – dealing with divorce stuff. It’s messy.

But you married in 2015...

Yes, we had a big wedding in church in August 2015. Before that, we had lived together for some years. My marriage ended 10 days after our wedding because of unfaithfulness. We tried to work it out, but it just didn’t work. It’s stressful.

You never saw this coming?

Imagine I didn’t. My fault was being too trusting. I was up and about looking for money to take care of basic needs. The funny thing is that everyone, apart from me, knew what was going on.

What does your soon-to-be ex wife have to say about it?

When I confronted her, she didn’t even deny it. She said it was true and that she had fallen in love with someone else and that she was leaving me. She said I wasn’t there for her when she was expecting our daughter. I have been dragged through the mud.

You're a celebrity, so how come tabloids haven't run a sensational story on your short-lived marriage? I mean, it's sad, but this is the stuff tabloids live for...

Yeah. It has only been known to my family and close friends for a while now because I had tried to hide everything as we sorted things out. But now it’s pretty clear it’s not working out so here we are. I’m getting divorced. But I won’t be single for too long. I cannot stay by myself. I need company. When I go home now, I can hear my echo. It’s very lonely.

How are you dealing with it?

To be honest - alcohol. I drown myself in alcohol, because I know the feeling it gives me. It helps me forget things. But let me clarify. I don’t drink myself to a stupor. I know my limits. I take just enough to drown the thoughts. I don’t get drunk. I have seen what alcohol can do. I have seen people close to me ruin their lives because of alcohol, and I don’t want to go down that path.

How will you move on?

All I want to focus on now is raising my daughter. I don’t live with her, but I want to be able to pay her fees and interact with her. My soon-to-be ex has already moved on (shows photos of wife with ‘other man’ at pregnancy photoshoot). I will not stay single for too long because I’m young. I am only 30 years old. I cannot be alone in life. That is not for me. I need someone around me.

I don’t know what I did wrong or what to do in future. I was accused of not being around to take care of my family, but the truth is I was out hustling. Before I made it big, I was living hand-to-mouth. Even finding money to pay rent was a problem. As much as I would have liked to be around more often, I could not just stay at home and expect the rent to pay itself.

On being told I was out partying with my friends too much - that’s normal. A guy needs to hang out with his friends every now and then just to get ideas and let out steam. When I’m with my boys, I get to relax, and we also talk about our wives and if someone’s spouse is stressing him, he talks about it. Then you feel you are not alone in it. Everyone has problems.

Sorry about that. Let's switch topics to your career. How does someone who studied biotechnology end up doing comedy and hosting a radio show?

I studied biotechnology purely for prestige. My brother did medicine and I thought about doing it too, but didn’t qualify, so I thought the next best thing was to study biotechnology at Kenyatta University.

At what point did you realise you wouldn't practise biotechnology?

In 2008, during my second year when I joined the Kenyatta University Travelling Theatre (KUTT) and started acting out plays and realised I really enjoyed it. Through that, I also got to volunteer for the university radio service. That was the beginning of media for me.

And the XYZ Show?

Through KUTT, I got to learn about a job with Buni TV. They were looking for people to do voices for a satirical show - the XYZ show. I did the auditions and didn’t hear from the producers for months. I even forgot about it until I got a call to go for another voice over. But the same thing happened again – the producers went quiet for months, then they called me again. This time I was reluctant. I thought they were not serious people. But I went anyway. Little did I know I had already been chosen and what I was going to do was record a voice for the actual show.

What did it feel like to have a paying job while still in campus?

When I signed on to the show, I really didn’t think it would pay as much as it did. The first time I got my cheque [he voiced the puppet character after Senator Mike Sonko], I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was six figures. I was over the moon. I moved out of my parents’ house and told my mother not to pay my fees for the next couple of semesters.

Speaking about your mother, she is a veteran media personality herself. Violet Mbuvi was the voice of the KBC children's show for many years. Is she part of the reason you leaned towards media?

Yes, I look up to my mum. And to be honest, after seeing the kind of treatment she received growing up just because of her name, I wanted to get into media and experience the same. I went to the Masai Mara and all these beautiful places for free, just because my mother was a personality.

So the fame and freebies attracted you most to media?

At first, yes. I wanted to be famous, simply because of what I saw it could do for people. Now, it’s more about passion, but name recognition and free stuff doesn’t hurt. I hardly use my salary because of the free stuff people give me because of my name.

So, how did you end up at One FM?

In 2011, I was listening to One FM when they announced they were looking for a radio host. On the day of the audition, I was at the station by 6am. I auditioned and I’d listen in every day to hear if I had sailed through, but I didn’t. I was heart-broken. Again in 2013, the station announced it was looking for the Next Big Radio presenter. I tried out again and got through to the top five, but by the time they called me for a voice test, I had already been offered a job at Urban Radio in Kisumu. I thought a bird in hand is worth two in the bush, so I told them I already had an offer. I secretly hoped they would make a counter offer and double the salary. Let’s just say I waited.

What happened at Urban Radio?

I was living from hand-to-mouth so I and needed something better. Worse still, my employer stopped providing free accommodation. In 2015, I resigned and later that night, I went for an event where Mdomo Baggy was the emcee. He recognised me and told me to come to the stage and say something. I left the crowd in stitches and later Baggy asked me where I was working. I told him I had just resigned from Urban Radio. To cut the long story short, it turned out he was the programmes controller for One FM and he gave me a job.