If Uganda were a public company, we would have more than 45 million shareholders, and the number of shareholders would keep growing every year. As a shareholder in Uganda myself, I have the natural right to voice my views about the state of affairs of our unlimited company called Uganda.
So, imagine that we were at a company annual general meeting, and I am finally given time to voice my views, my topic of choice being – Late Preparations for Important Conferences. After acknowledging the respective protocols, I would then proceed as follows:
Ladies and Gentlemen, I have only one question – why do we have to dilly-dally until the last moment to prepare to host important conferences in our country? First, it happened when we hosted the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in November 2007. The guests arrived when the paint on the walls of the conference facilities had hardly dried.
Then again, as recently as January 2024, we repeated the same mistake with the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and the G77 Summits. Flowers were still being planted on the sidewalks, and roads were being fixed even as our guests arrived. What does this show about our country?
If you paid me a visit and found my home in a mess, and I try to tidy up in your presence, what would you think of me?
When our guests arrive and find the walls are still wet with paint, the roads are still being fixed in their presence, and evidence is all around of late and hasty preparations to host them, they form a long-term impression of what type of country Uganda is, and that impression cannot be favorable.
Actually, this disorganization at the national level is indicative of inefficiency, official negligence, failure in the government system, and even corruption. We can certainly do better than embarrass ourselves before the international community. We have messed up twice, but I believe that we can do better in the next international conferences coming to Kampala.
Let me offer a piece of advice to the powers that be: why don’t you, within the existing budget framework, form a standing committee comprising relevant ministries and departments, officials, and some in the private sector; then mandate them to coordinate and fast-track the marketing and execution of MICE – Meetings Incentives Conferences and Exhibitions – in the country. MICE, by the way, is nowadays an important source of foreign currency for forward-looking countries, and some of Uganda’s neighbors are earning from it big time.
I believe the private sector is an important partner here because they can ensure all the money Uganda’s visitors come with remains here by giving them tour offers and making them experience Uganda to the fullest.
This simple step, I believe, would help tackle bureaucratic incompetence that is endemic in the government. I would then end my submission.
By Joseph Jojo Kwizera
NUP Political Activist
