Pheona Wall talks her PR and Law to and fro

Before we even go far, tell me about the name Wall. It sounds unique.

It is my husband’s name. He comes from West Nile. He just has a cool name. I think God was thinking of me when He gave him that name [laughs]. I think the work that I do requires you to be as neutral as possible and I think in a country where people place you by your name, it is nice to have that name where no one can place you anywhere.

I like that about my name and I feel very Ugandan. I was born and bred in Jinja. My parents met in Mbale, but [they are] originally from Kanungu. I feel very Ugandan and sometimes I don’t like us speaking along tribal lines.

When I was reading about you, it looks like you were on government scholarship right from high school all the way to university.

My mother drove me to be the best. I was really poor at Maths but she got someone to coach me. My parents were very involved in my education.

My dad loved sciences; so, he trained me in that and my mum taught me how to read using novels. Both my parents are very performance-driven and I always felt that pressure to perform. 

So how do you respond to someone who tells that you that you can’t do something?

That is usually the way to get me to do something. I remember when I was leaving O-level, my parents wanted me to do Law and I wanted to do medicine; so, there was that fight. 

I was in Namagunga but I went to Nabisunsa and got myself an admission to do PCB (Physics, Chemistry and Biology). But my mother told me I had the opportunity to do a course that comes naturally to me which is Law so, I shouldn’t waste it, so, I went back to Namagunga and did Arts which I am so happy that I did.

But then getting into Law School, the first day the lecturers came in and terrified us that if you are a Christian and you want to pray on Sunday this was not the course for you.

So, I got up and filled Mass Communication forms to change the course. I went home and told my mum about it and my uncle who is a lawyer was there. He looked at me and said that he knew I couldn’t do Law. I just tore the mass communications forms up and went and studied Law. So, it is very nice to tell me that I can’t.

Your parents had very high expectations…

Oh, very high! Even if you were the first in class, they would ask you why you did not get a 90 per cent if you had 89 per cent. My mum made me immune against flattery because she told me that those who love me cannot flatter me. Then my dad just had high expectations and he was an over achiever.

Was the pressure the same for your siblings?

No, I feel like my siblings had it a bit easy mostly because they were really good. You see, I was so naughty. I caused so much grief.

I burnt down my mum’s shop when I was eight years while playing with matches. I was a tomboy and used to lead a certain group of boys and we would just get up to no good.

I had this whole gender thing of wanting to be a boy and that is because boys seemed to do the things that I wanted to do. Even the people I wanted to be like were men like Sherlock Holmes, James Bond. So, I think academics was the only way I could make it up to my parents.

You did Law; when did Public Relations come in?

One of the things I discovered was my love for music, dance and drama. I discovered it during my first year at university. I started acting, writing plays, producing them and travelling to produce them. Much as I was doing Law, I also discovered other things that I loved. I was also leading worship at a church called Agape Baptist Church.

When I left school, I did a stint at a certain NGO which rehabilitated girls from the streets but though I loved the job, I felt like social work was not what I wanted to do but law. So, while at Makerere University to pick my graduation certificate, I met a friend who asked whether I wanted a job. I went and did the interview and I passed to become the secretary for the National Broadcasters Association.

One of the people there was Hon Maria Kiwanuka. She called me the next day and told me to go to studio and do a voice test and she told me she wanted me to do a show called Talk Back. I also did the morning show at Radio One but I started working at a law firm. But I felt like I did not fit in at radio because I felt I was not qualified having not studied mass communication; so, I left.  

So, you went back and concentrated on law?

I went to National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) to be part of their legal team and I was also teaching Law at KIU. But after three years, I decided to leave the job to concentrate on NWSC and they told me to head their Public Relations department yet I thought I was going to focus on law by heading the legal department there. They told me I was going to be in PR for three days but that became three years.

While I was doing that, Airtel gives me a call telling me they wanted me to go and head their Public Relations department which I refused at first because I was loyal to NWSC but when I met the managing director of Airtel, he convinced me to join them. But I still missed the practice of law deeply.

I got an opportunity to go back to NWSC and this time I was going to lead the legal department which I had always wanted.

How was your husband watching you all this time switching from one job to another?

I think he is responsible for a lot of this because he entertains and indulges it, which is a good thing. I wish sometimes he would just dissuade me. I have done all these changes with him because he has been one of my greatest career guides.

How do you join Uganda Law Society?

While at NWSC, I went back to Law Society and started looking for mentors because I had been away from law for five years and it were some of them who told me to get on to the [society]; so, I campaigned to become the secretary. I became the secretary and I felt it was a good position for me because there I could also practice public relations. I felt the Law Society lacked a public relations feel to it and needed rebranding.

But as I was planning to leave, our donors were also leaving and the vice president is the one who heads the Legal Aid project and I felt I could fix that. I became the vice president and we got more donors and grew our projects.

I never thought I would ever be the president or ever want to be because I loved supporting the presidents. I did not think it was ever my calling to be the president. It started as dissatisfaction and anger and I felt like I could fix and refocus certain things.  In my house, I would not be allowed to rest unless I ran for president; so, I went and ran for the office.

BRIEF BACKGROUND

Pheona Nabasa Gladys Wall was born and raised in Jinja. She is the first born of three children.

She attended YMCA nursery school, Jinja, Narambhai primary school, Jinja, and Victoria Nile School Jinja for her primary education.

She then attended Mt St Mary’s College Namagunga for both O and A-level on a scholarship which was given to her by Uganda Commercial Bank for being the best PLE student in Eastern region.

She went on to study a bachelor’s degree in Law on government scholarship at Makerere University. She also did a master’s degree in Management and a postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice from Law Development Centre. Currently the chief legal officer at NWSC, she is married and has three children. 

jjingoernest1@gmail.com