The Last Mugerwa brings family secrets and power struggles to Ugandan screen

• The Last Mugerwa follows the wealthy Mugerwa family after its patriarch suffers a mysterious collapse.

• The story explores inheritance battles, affairs, secret alliances and an ancestral debt.

• The cast includes actors from Uganda and Kenya, with Allan Manzi directing and executive producing the film.

• The approximately 30-minute drama will premiere on YouTube on September 6, 2026.

A wealthy Kampala family, a disputed inheritance and a mysterious collapse drive the story of The Last Mugerwa, a new Ugandan drama centred on secrets, power and betrayal.

Created and directed by Ugandan filmmaker Allan Manzi, the film follows the Mugerwa family, whose public image begins to fall apart after its patriarch, Mzee Mugerwa, collapses following a disturbing encounter with his ancestors.

What first looks like a medical emergency soon turns into a mystery.

Doctors fail to explain the collapse, while members of the family begin to suspect that someone may have engineered his death.

The fight over who should inherit his wealth deepens the tension and turns family loyalty into a struggle for control.

The approximately 30-minute film goes beyond the inheritance battle.

Affairs, broken relationships, secret alliances and a hidden truth threaten to tear the Mugerwa family apart from within.

The story also introduces a supernatural element. The family’s present troubles are linked to a dark agreement made in the past and the consequences of an ancestral debt.

Manzi uses the story to explore themes that are familiar to many Ugandan audiences, including family expectations, business ambition, loyalty and the struggle for influence.

Manzi Media, the company behind the film, says the production forms part of its effort to tell African stories with local identity while appealing to wider audiences.

The cast brings together actors from Uganda and Kenya.

They include Allen Komujuni, Ronnie Ndubi, Malaika, RiverDan Rugaju, Diana Luvanda, Evelyn Kemizinga, Pelly Peninah Nampanga, Arnold Muhereza, Stephen Katusiime, Linda Kayitesi Kayita and Herbert Montez Kafrika, who plays Mr Mugerwa. Jeremiah Khari Okeny also appears in the production.

Kemizinga plays Mercy Mugerwa, the family matriarch who tries to hold the household together while protecting a secret that could destroy everything the family has built.

Malaika plays Sarah Mugerwa, a quiet but intelligent chief financial officer whose abilities come to the fore as secrets surrounding her husband threaten her life.

Ndubi plays Adrian Semakula, an ambitious senior executive caught between rival factions in the family’s power struggle.

Behind the camera, Manzi also serves as executive producer.

Peter Niwagaba is the writer and producer, Malaika Tenshi serves as line producer, while Emmanuel Gashumba handles cinematography.

Manzi began his filmmaking career at Maisha Film Lab before earning a master’s degree in Film and Television from Sacred Heart University in New York.

He later worked with NBCUniversal on Emmy Award-winning programmes including Maury, Jerry Springer and Master of None.

Unlike many Ugandan dramas that first seek television distribution, The Last Mugerwa will premiere directly on YouTube.

The film is scheduled for release on September 6, 2026.

For local audiences, the production offers a familiar world of family, wealth and business, but adds suspense and the supernatural.

At the centre of the story is a warning that the greatest threat to a family empire may come from within.