Ugandan siblings Esther and Ezekiel Mutesasira, who won East Africa Got Talent Competition held in Nairobi in 2019, have revealed that they are yet to receive their $50,000 (Ksh5 million) prize two years on.
The talented duo disclosed this recently in a Facebook Live session.
In the video, the frustrated kids said they only received part of the money and haven’t heard from the event organizers and managers ever since.
They, however, didn’t reveal how much they received or the amount owed.
Although they said they were grateful for the opportunity to showcase their talent in the competition, the young gospel musicians, who now reside in Canada with their mother, said the organizers should honor their promise.
“We haven’t got the money, they haven’t called us, they haven’t said anything, two years straight my friend it is going to be now the third year and we haven’t got the money yet,” Ezekiel said.
He added: “We need the money because we worked for it.”
The singers were crowned winners on October 6, 2019, after a moving performance of Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey’s song, When You Believe.
President Yoweri Museveni led Ugandans in congratulating the siblings in a tweet.
“My grandchildren have told me about our talented bazukulu Esther and Ezekiel, who have won an East African Talent competition this evening. I am told they are very good singers. I congratulate them,” Museveni tweeted.
Esther and Ezekiel had pledged to give back to society by building an orphanage to offer shelter to homeless children.
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“We are planning with our parents to build an orphanage to help homeless children. We also want to support those who are talented but don’t have money to build their talents,” the duo said in an interview with New Vision after their victory.
EAGT show began in August 2019 and was hosted by Uganda’s Anne Kansiime. It had a total of eight episodes.
The show judges were Citizen TV news anchor Jeff Koinange (Kenya), singer Vanessa Mdee (Tanzania), Rwanda’s DJ Contact Makeda and Ugandan actor and radio host Gaetano Kagwa.
The competition was part of the Got Talent franchise owned by Simon Cowell. It drew participants from Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania and hosts Kenya.
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