Friday, November 30, 2012
RELATIVES OF DEAD OLD BOYS COULD CONTRIBUTE SEATS TO THE SCHOOL CHAPEL IN MEMORY OF THOSE SMACK OLD BOYS
Thursday, November 29, 2012
SMACK BOYS EXCITE OLD BOYS WITH NEW CAR INVENTION!
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http://goodgovernancepractice.blogspot.com/2012/11/smack-boys-excite-old-boys-with-new-car.html
HOW DO IDENTICAL TWINS EVOLVE?
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http://goodgovernancepractice.blogspot.com/2012/11/how-do-identical-twins-evolve.html
CHILDREN GRADUATES?
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http://goodgovernancepractice.blogspot.com/2012/11/children-graduates.html
WHY ARE THERE FEW CHANCES FOR UGANDANS BEING TAKEN AS VOLUNTEERS OUT OF UGANDA
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WHAT IS SOFT POWER EDUCATION ABOUT?
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http://goodgovernancepractice.blogspot.com/2012/11/what-is-soft-power-education-about.html
DONORS CAN DO BETTER BY GETTING MONEY DIRECTLY TO PREVIOUSLY DETERMINED BENEFICIARIES AS PER THE MOU
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http://goodgovernancepractice.blogspot.com/2012/11/donors-can-do-better-by-getting-money.html
ESTABLISHMENT OF BUGANDA PUBLIC INVESTMENT COMPANY (BUPIC) IS THE BEST OPTION FOR A BUGANDA BANK
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http://goodgovernancepractice.blogspot.com/2012/11/establishment-of-buganda-public.html
PIONEER BUSES MANAGEMENT SHOULD ENHANCE STAFF WELFARE
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http://goodgovernancepractice.blogspot.com/2012/11/pioneer-buses-management-should-enhance.html
AS WE CELEBRATE WORLD AIDS DAY THIS YEAR, WE SHOULD ENDEAVOUR TO SEE THAT CHILDREN ARE BORN FREE OF HIV CONTRACTED AT BIRTH
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http://goodgovernancepractice.blogspot.com/2012/11/as-we-celebrate-world-aids-day-this.html
ARE SOME KCCA TOILETS FREE TO CHARGE USERS?
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THE SMACK AMBITIOUS SWIMMING POOL PROJECT IS GETTING TO COMPLETION
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WHAT HAS HAPPENED IN THE KAMULI ELECTION CAN HAPPEN IN 2016 TO SEE MUSEVENI GO
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http://goodgovernancepractice.blogspot.com/2012/11/what-has-happened-in-kamuli-election.html
Sunday, November 25, 2012
SMACK BOYS EXCITE OLD BOYS WITH NEW CAR INVENTION!
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http://goodgovernancepractice.blogspot.com/2012/11/smack-boys-excite-old-boys-with-new-car.html
Saturday, November 24, 2012
SMACK CONTRIBUTION - AS UGANDA CELEBRATES 50 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE
St. Mary’s College Kisubi, one of Uganda’s premier secondary schools, was founded in 1906 by Reverend Father Raux Modesta, a brilliant French missionary of the White Fathers society, who abandoned a lucrative post of Chaplain in a French College and came to Africa to found what was destined to become a great College.
Father Raux arrived in Uganda on foot from Mombasa and immediately embarked on setting up the institution to which he gave the motto “Duc in Altum” (aim at the highest). And this has been the central axis motivating SMACK’s lofty achievements. Its alumni are found in every layer of society and in every corner of the world. Many of them from modest backgrounds have been turned into very prominent doctors, scientists, researchers, professors, lawyers, etc in line with the motto.
St. Mary’s College Kisubi has always initiated important projects in Sciences, Mathematics, languages, Sports and other Extra-Curricular activities. SMACK’s special minds wherever they are, regardless of their various academic levels and achievements, they respect others, they love and serve society whole heartedly, and they often pose as models in positive leadership. SMACK is just an adequate symbol that displays how the missionary factor in the region has been a tremendous success.
I wish Kabaka Muteesa I (1861-1884) who invited missionaries to Uganda and eventually gave them land was able to look at a place like Kisubi Hill with all its academic institutions. He would very rightly say he really deserves to be called one of the wisest founding Fathers of modern Africa!
As a product of SMACK, I humbly salute the White Fathers who due to their love for Africa founded this College of international repute. I also salute the Brothers of Christian Instruction because of the way they have efficiently administered this great institution, making it a star model. And I warmly salute all those who have always sacrificed their energies for the College.
And for our most beloved Alma mater, I am proud of its glittering contribution towards the edification of modern Africa. Long live SMACK!
By Dr. George Herman Kkolokolo (Paris/France) Mugwanya House
LORDSHIP RIGHT REVEREND BISHOP MICHAUD’S LETTER TO STUDENTS OF St. MARY’S COLLEGE KISUBI DATED 26th OCTOBER 1941
My Dear Students,
You Must Be The Leaders In Uganda.
“I wish to take this opportunity of expressing my sincere gratitude to Reverend Brother Maurice, Principal, for the very keen interest he has taken in his work for this College, and the way he has led the students.
I have also to express my gratitude to all members of the staff for their loyal support and their unfailing efforts for the good of the school.
Last of all in this connection, and I think, the most important of all, I have to pay tribute to your spirit, boys, a spirit of real determination to do well which has animated you, in this, and in past years, a spirit which has earned success and which promises well for your future.
And this brings me straight to the subject of my address to you, To-day – YOUR FUTURE… You must become LEADERS. The aim of St. Mary’s is to
produce Leaders in Uganda, in Africa. And you will never turn out to be leaders if you are not a personality; if you are not a character, a person having strength of mind.
You must be somebody… To be somebody, is to cultivate oneself, to study to make progress, with a heart full of enthusiasm, and a soul thirsting for beauty, eager for perfections; and no drawback, no suffering, can prevent us of reaching that goal.”
St. Mary's College Kisubi celebrated 100 years in 2006 since it was started as St. Mary's School by its founder Reverend Father Raux Modeste. From its founding, through the years, the focus has been among other things academic excellence, and its target is to be the leading Secondary School in Uganda across the board. This year (2012) Uganda has celebrated 50 years of Independence, and in those years, it is academic excellence that the school products have to show off as well as excellence as leaders in the various working careers locally and internationally. I take this opportunity to expose to the whole world the truth that SMACK products have been performers. It is great that many students have lived to the wishes of Bishop Michaud as indicated in his letter part of which is quote above.
William Kituuka Kiwanuka - Editor (SMACK CONTRIBUTION)
1. PROFESSOR TOM OTITI HAS RISEN TO GREAT HEIGHTS AS A PHYSICIST AND RESEARCHER
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http://goodgovernancepractice.blogspot.com/2012/11/smack-contribution_23.html
Monday, November 19, 2012
MR MUSEVENI TREATS DONORS AS CLASS PREFECTS
In the past, President Museveni has had opportunity to call donors by many names. You knows he is second to God in Uganda. When they have to meet him as State House, it is like he summons them so. he treats them like Class Prefects. a teacher can give respect to these prefects if he wishes and at times he can a shame them.
The Donor representatives should get serious. We are aware many are well read. They have Masters from recognized Universities. They know that if there is Black market, economic principles cater for this, not policing. Instead of playing hide and seek games with Museveni's Government, and tomorrow they (the Government) are not able to police the monies, they can directly get to the beneficiaries. If it is to construct Pit latrines, surely, there are some NGOs that can help and where accountability can easily be emphasized, and the Pit latrines will be in place. How does the President Justify an expenditure of shs 7bn on a Committee of inquiry into UPE? To the donor representatives, it does not make sense keeping warning Government when you know that this Government will always divert money to other areas including financing voter bribes among other things. Let us close the chapter, and have the donors deal with identified areas that need this assistance. If shs 20bn were to go into a project, if is not bad to have 2bn go into supervision and the 8bn into benefiting the identified needy areas and Uganda will move instead of giving money to the proven corrupt.
William Kituuka Kiwanuka
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MUSEVENI BEGS DONORS OVER AID CUTS
By EMMANUEL GYEZAHO
Posted Monday, November 19 2012 at 19:34
President Museveni Monday afternoon back-peddled on his characteristic attacks against donors, choosing in a dramatic U-turn to plead with them to continue financing his government currently in a reputation crisis over graft.
The NRM leader made the humbling request at a “frank and lively” two and a half hour meeting he held with ambassadors from 20 development partner countries under their loose coalition, Partners for Democracy and Governance (PDG) at State House Entebbe Monday afternoon, his press office said.
egyezaho@ug.nationmedia.com
================================
President Museveni’s full statement;
Greetings to all of you, Excellences
You cannot talk, seriously or credibly about the fight against criminality and corruption in Uganda in the last 50 years and the period before without talking about the vanguard role of the NRM in that fight.
Until 26 years ago, stealing Government funds was the least of Uganda’s problems. The main problems were: extra-judicial killings (that resulted into the death of 800,000 Ugandans between 1966 and 1986); looting of property of the population by the soldiers; raping of women; brutalizing of the population through beatings by the soldiers; uprooting of whole communities by the soldiers, like Idi Amin did with the Indian community, or like the colonial system did with the Banyoro, Baruuli, Banyala and others; the poaching of animals by Government soldiers in the National Parks; the grabbing of private and communal lands by those in power; and, of course, the stealing of Government funds. The NRM, which started as a student Movement in the 1960s, was the vanguard and pioneer of the fight against all this criminality and corruption since, at least, 1965 todate.
We started by defending the land of the peasants between 1966 and 1970 ― at least, in some parts of the country. Who were the agents of criminality, corruption and extortion? It was the State ― both the Colonial and the post-Colonial State. During the colonial times, for instance, the system of mailo was created where 8,000 square miles was taken away from the indigenous owners and was given to 1,000 collaborator chiefs, each one getting 8 sq. miles. When this grand theft almost caused an uprising in 1924, the Governor, Mitchell, appointed a Commission of Enquiry, which resulted in some reforms of 1928. However, the problem was not fully eliminated. We are still grappling with it. We shall definitely solve it.
Apart from the grabbing of land, extra-judicial killings were massively used, especially between 1966 and 1986, as already pointed out. There are 37 mass graves in the Luwero Triangle, preserved to capture this criminality. Your Excellencies could go there and visit some of them. Therefore, the main task of the revolutionaries was to destroy the rump of the colonial State ― the colonial Army, headed by the likes of Idi Amin and to build a people’s Army. It is this intervention that made Uganda to resurrect and chart a new course. Many people have been praising the conduct of the UPDF in Somalia. That is a consequence of that Revolution ― destroying the colonial Army and replacing it with a people’s Army as part of reforming the colonial State. Incidentally, this was not unique to Uganda. Throughout the whole of Africa, this was the problem. The terrible civil war in Nigeria, Mobutu in Congo, Siad Barre in Somalia, Bokassa in Central Africa, Eyadema in Togo, the recent problems of Ivory Coast, the genocides in Rwanda and Burundi can all, in one way or another, be traced to the colonial State and its Armies. Some go a bit further to link up with the African feudal systems of the pre-colonial times as exploited by colonialism.
Therefore, our revolution was both anti-colonial and anti-feudal. The most dangerous element of the Colonial State was the Colonial Army and its post-colonial mutants ― Uganda Army (UA), Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA), etc. This Army was sectarian, illiterate, unpatriotic, etc. Our Revolution, on the other hand, was based on four principles:
Patriotism;
Pan-Africanism;
Socio-economic transformation; and
Democracy
By destroying the colonial Army and replacing it with the Revolutionary Army, we, immediately, cured the following criminalities:
Extra-judicial killings;
Raping of women;
Looting of people’s property;
Brutalizing of people and rudeness to them;
Poaching of animals from the National Parks; and
Grabbing people’s land; etc.
That is how Uganda resurrected and started the recovery process, which has been witnessed in recent years (the last 26 years).
The colonial Army, however, was not the only element in the colonial State. There were other elements:
The civil service;
The Police;
The Judiciary;
The Professional services (medical, veterinary,teaching), etc.
It was actually a bit easier to reform the Army. What that needed was a correct ideological-philosophical outlook. As already said, our outlook is: patriotism, pan-Africanism, socio-economic transformation (modernization) and democracy. To these, or even as a consequence of patriotism, if you add heroism and courage, given the comparatively Uganda’s good educational standards even during the colonial times, it was easy to build a good pro-people Army.
All this was also assisted by the solid martial culture of the people of Uganda the decadent feudal system that tended to smoother the qualities of our people notwithstanding. Why? A recruit course takes six months to nine months, an officer - cadet’s course takes twelve months and a Non Commissioned Officer’s (NCO) course takes four months. This is based on assumption that you have people of the right educational level, age-bracket and health. The ideological aspects can be imparted by the leadership through teaching and by example. This can quickly get you people to lead platoons and with accelerated training, you will get people to lead companies, etc. Anybody with a University degree in general studies or A-level education can be turned into a good soldier, NCO or officer. Specialists for Air-force, engineering and other specialties need science education. Fortunately, these are needed in smaller numbers.
However, with Administration (Accounting officers), professional services (doctors, lawyers, veterinary), Judiciary, etc., you need longer periods of preparation. Some of these courses need science education or mathematics, which are subjects that are not as popular as the humanities. Many of them (the people involved), besides, had a careerist attitude, different from us the revolutionaries whose approach was a revolutionary one ― working, selflessly, without caring about remuneration, never claiming overtime allowances, staying in grass thatched huts instead of clamouring for good housing (just as we did in the bush), etc.
Then, there was also the politics. We could not have massively disbanded the civil service as we did with the Army without alienating the public. At that time, the civil service was not as unpopular as the army. The army’s criminality was much clearer to the masses and our destroying it has given us political capital whose account is not yet overdrawn ― 26 years after. In any case, we did not have others to replace them at that time. We, therefore, decided to tackle the problem piece-meal, quite early on.
In addition to the army, we decided to reform Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) ― the former East African Customs Department plus other tax departments. These departments were very corrupt. In 1986, these corrupt tax bodies, were only collecting 4.23% of GDP as tax for the Government. The rest, they were collecting for themselves. We abolished these departments, created URA, which was manned by the people we got through integrity hunting before professional training. What did this mean? Take Allen Kagina, for instance, the present Commissioner-General (CG) of URA. She was a lecturer in Psychology at Makerere University. In fact, Allen Kagina protested that she did not know anything about tax collection. I told her that somebody would teach her because tax collection was not space science. What was lacking in those tax bodies was integrity and uprightness. By recruiting a new cadreship into the tax bodies, collection rose from 4% of GDP to the present 12.65% of GPD. It has stagnated at that level because of the subsistence nature of the economy but, possibly, also, the lack of a correct personal identification system which will be cured by the electronic identity card.
Then, we turned to the Police, which has been slowly overhauled. This is how the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is now able to play an active role in the present anti-fraud campaign. I had to bring in two Generals from the Revolutionary Army ― Katumba Wamala and Kale Kaihura ─ to shake up this centre of criminality that was ironically supposed to fight criminality.
Recently, we deployed Jennifer Musisi in the rotten Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA). She is busy sweeping Aegean stables of Kampala ─ corruption, land grabbing, lack of planning, garbage, pot-holes, mud, dust, flooding, flies, etc. In the short time she has been in that office, you can see what impact she has created in spite of the opposition by the corrupt political class and bureaucrats.
Recently, there have been quite a few politically motivated red-herrings, trying to give the impression that the problem of corruption in Uganda is because of lack of “political will” to fight that corruption. Who? Me, Yoweri Museveni, lacking “political will” to fight corruption and criminality when I am stronger now than I was in 1971, when, together with my colleagues, we took the regime of Idi Amin head on, or when in 1981, with 27 guns, we attacked Kabamba? Those who peddle those falsehoods should be treated with the contempt they deserve.
As soon as we had the opportunity, we put all the necessary laws in place ― leadership code, the anti-corruption laws, etc. We also put new institutions in place such as the Inspector General of Government (IGG), etc., in addition to the old ones such as CID, Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), etc. The problem has been the manning of these institutions. As all wars go, the enemy tries to infiltrate our ranks depending on the leadership that may be in place in a given institution. The IGG office, for instance, seems to have been infiltrated by questionable characters. The new IGG seems to be of the right temperament and integrity. She will mop up the infiltrators. Those who have been pushing the red-herring of lack of “political will” have been ignoring Article 174 of the Constitution, the Public Service Act of 2008 and section 188 of Local Government Act, all of which give power over money, contracts and personnel to the civil servants, not to politicians. In fact, there is no area of Government where the politicians can misuse money, make wrong procurement contracts, etc., without the permission of the civil servants (the Accounting officer). Where it happens, it is easy to detect. Therefore, as I have pointed out before, the warriors in the anti-corruption war are: the Permanent Secretary (PS) in the ministry, the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) in a district, the Town Clerk in a City or Municipality and the Gombolola chief in a sub-county. All the others are mere accessories to the crime. They are the ones to supervise the procurement officers, the accountants, etc., below them.
Recently, we had a break through in this war. The whistle blowers in the ministry of Public Service exposed the huge theft of the pension funds. The CID moved in and they are doing a commendable job. Then, the Permanent Secretary of the Office of the Prime Minister became a whistle-blower in the case of the accountant Kazinda. This is what involved money from Development Partners. We are going to methodically unearth all those involved. I suspended the Permanent Secretary of the ministry of Public Service and I will suspend anybody else once I am satisfied that they are involved.
The suspected thieves are very cunning. One of their techniques seems to be blackmail whereby they intimidate whistle-blowers with framing them up or trying to get political patronage. I can assure you none of those will work. I am the elected leader of Uganda for four consecutive terms apart from being the historical leader of the Ugandan Revolution. Anybody who associates himself or herself with these suspected thieves and tries to shield them will come to ruin as did all the enemies of our people. Our points-men in this war are the auditors, officers from CID officers and other security services. I, sometimes, directly supervise them. We shall not be diverted by any smoke-screen. Each issue will be dealt with according to the facts.
As for the Development Partners, kindly inform your home constituencies that you are dealing with capable people who fought the dictatorship of Idi Amin; fought the dictatorship of UPC; defended Uganda from Sudanese - sponsored terrorism; destroyed the colonial Army that was killing Ugandans; stopped the multiple crimes of that Army against the people of Uganda; enabled the Ugandan economy to recover; contributed to regional peace, etc. The recent revelations have been made by people sympathetic to the Revolution. They are the whistle-blowers. We have the capacity to defeat these thieves as we defeated all the other enemies of Uganda.
These accountants have for long been rumoured to be the core of corruption in the Public Service. Fortunately, given the large number of educated people Uganda now has, it will not be a big problem to get rid of this crop of parasites. Their activities even impact negatively on the operations of the foreign exchange. By getting this free money of the Government, they are able to buy large amount of dollars for externalization, thereby, causing the artificial depreciation of the Uganda shilling.
The fight against these thieves is going on well. Give me your support and, please, remember the Banyankore proverb: “Watooza n’ababwibire”. The rich African dialects are very precise and not easy to interpret. It refers to people stealing one’s millet in the night from a granary. The following morning, having discovered the theft, you make the alarm. Among those who come to help track the stolen millet are the very thieves that stole the millet at night. They will do everything possible to divert you from the track that the thieves took so that you do not find the millet and the thieves. All that is said in two words as shown above.
I thank you.
H.E. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni
President of the Republic of Uganda
HOW CAN WE PUT SENSE IN HEADS OF SOME TAXI DRIVERS?
This morning, I was required to be in someone's office by 7.30am. My fear was the traffic jam. before 6.00am, I was at Kajjansi Stage. I got a taxi shortly, but my 1st surprise was the conductor who wanted us to sit 4 so that we pay shs 1,000 to Kampala. I objected, and at least we sat 3 on my row. When we reached around Mildmay, the driver was overtaking at that very bad part of Entebbe Highway as vehicles towards Entebbe are normally at high speed. I cautioned the driver, but again he started overtaking a queue of vehicles. I told him to drop me there!
It is not clear what material many of the taxi drivers are built in. There is need to see safety of travelers as priority.
William Kituuka. Kiwanuka
Saturday, November 17, 2012
IN UGANDA WE ARE REALLY BEING CHEATED BY SOME IN BUSINESS
The problem in Uganda is that morals are completely gone with most business operators. A person will cheat you whenever he can. The other day I wanted to go to visit Kasubi Tombs. At Wandegaya I met a man who wanted me desperately to get into his saloon car. He was charging shs 800 to get us to Nakulabye. He managed to get me convinced to get into the car, however, what undid everything, he wanted us to sit 4. I decided to jump out and left women seated. Just opposite Makerere Main gate, I found taxi's and I sat into one patiently until it got full. A few meters to where I boarded off, the conductor gave me change of shs 300 at Kasubi! I saved shs 100, yet the shs 800 was to initially get me to Nakulabye!
That is not all. Yesterday, I got to Kawuku - Entebbe road. I bought some sugar for my mum. I remember it cost me shs 3,000 a kilo. When I got to my place, I realized there was no Sugar. I bought a Kilo at shs 3,600 as I was given shs 1,400 balance from a shs 5,000 note.
We need a way to get the right or call them fair prices of goods and services. May be some organization had better open up a site like the social site we have where he/she or they would be able to compile information regarding the various charges we should expect on market.
William Kituuka
IF YOU DIED TODAY, WHAT WOULD YOU BE REMEMBERED FOR?
I AM AN ADVOCATE OF GOOD GOVERNANCE. I FEAR, WHAT IF MUKULA IS CONVICTED?
Behind the scenes of Mukula’s Gavi cash probe
By ANTHONY WESAKA
Posted Saturday, November 17 2012 at 02:14
This week saw former health minister Mike Mukula taking to the dock to put his spirited defence by denying to have ‘ever touched, seen or even smelt’ the Shs210 million meant for the Global Alliance for Vaccine and Immunisation.
During the defence and the final submissions, pertinent issues came up.
State prosecutor Sydney Asubo, asked the court to convict Capt. Mukula, arguing that prosecution had adduced sufficient evidence to prove that he stole Shs210 million from Gavi account.
Mr Asubo argued that by posing a question of why only Shs54 million was disbursed to the office of the First Lady and Shs210 million and yet it was supposed to be also sent to the same destination before being kept in a safe and re-banked after eight months.
Mukula’s defence
In his defence, Capt. Mukula told the court that after a request was made to his office, three vouchers were prepared in amounts of Shs136,890,000, Shs73,146,000 and Shs53,819,000 totaling to Shs263,855,000, which he signed on to facilitate their movement. Capt. Mukula explained that since the money was in three different vouchers with different amounts, the disbursement process to the office of the First Lady was to be done on the basis of one to one not in lump sum.
He also explained that after disbursing Shs54 million to the office of the First Lady, the very office took long to account for the money before they could be advanced with funds for the second voucher to carry out their intended advocacy activities.
However, the state prosecutor Mr Asubo argues that Mukula’s motive of only disbursing the Shs54 million and keeping the Shs210 million for over eight months, before re-banking it, showed that he had intentions of stealing it, and that indeed he stole it.
Mr Asubo explained that Capt. Mukula, only returned the money after hearing of a looming investigation into the same by the Inspectorate of Government.
Captain Mukula said he sees a lot of political persecution in the case but was confident that the law would supersede the persecution.
Court has set January 18 next year when it will deliver its judgment. Should court find Capt. Mukula guilty of embezzlement, he stands to face up to 14 years in jail.
awesaka@ug.nationmedia.com
PRINCESS RUTH KOMUNTALE WAS AT KABAKA MUTEBI'S WEDDING AS A CHILD, NOW SHE IS A WOMAN
Friday, November 16, 2012
THERE IS ONLY ONE SENIOR SCHOOL, BUT SOME SCHOOLS KEEP CALLING THEMSELVES SENIOR
Mengo is the only Senior School in Uganda. Can the Ministry of Education take this a serious matter. There are a number of school which call themselves senior which is wrong. because Mengo Secondary was the 1st in Uganda, it is called SENIOR School.
KCCA NOT DOING BADLY ON DRAINAGE
KABAKA'S LAKE - A BUGANDA WONDER WHICH IS A MULTI MILLION SITE WITHIN KAMPALA
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND - The lake is located in Uganda’s capital Kampala, a few kilometers from the city center, it was established by King Mwanga II (1884-1888). To date it is one of the only two excavated lakes in East Africa and one of the biggest of this kind in Africa. It occupies 2km 2 and is about 200 feet deep on average. King Mwanga had a liking for swimming and fishing. Whenever he desired to engage in these water sports, he would be carried 11km from his Mengo Palace to his lakeside palace in Munyonyo. One day an idea occurred to him in 1887 during his return from Munyonyo; if a lake were to be constructed; it would bring his water sport home and serve as an escape waterway in the event of armed conflict with the British (which was eminent) and other territorial enemies from Mengo to Munyonyo. In spite of the low technological advance at the time, construction of the lake began using rudimentary equipment like hoes and bare hands. From chiefs to his subjects, no one was exempt from this intensive labour which always started from 3:00am till 4:00pm each day and was to last 11 months. Many lives were lost due to fatigue, hunger, accidents and diseases. However, the work was abruptly brought to an unplanned end by a rebellion of Christian converts in1888. By then the lake had reached Najjanankumbi, 2Km from Mengo, the basin then contracted and the current lake has maintained more or less the same state since 1888 The lake is home to hundreds of water rare animals and plants. Without many visible tributaries, the lake maintains an almost equal volume of water throughout the year. This is the background of this high value resource urgently threatened to extinction by encroachers, who out of ignorance and greed are conducting illicit activities in the lakes vicinity which are greatly compromising its ecological, social and diverse cultural history.
Below are photo impressions of Kabaka's Lake (Kabaka is the Luganda word for Buganda King). From the 1st picture, one gets the experience of what the Lake looks like and may be, what developments are possible. It is important to note that driving around the lake is possible as a road goes round. Given the economic activities, the water is dirty, and this can be easily seen, this is due to the in-flow due to storm/rain water which drains into the lake, 2ndly, the washing of vehicles which gets all the dirt into the lake. One important feature of the lake is that its water drains out through a channel made of concrete. There is also an island with birds and its quite impressive and a potential tourist attraction. A few developments can boost the Lake. It is possible to have a Conference facility which floats on the lake. A modern hotel can be put up. For those who love music, it can be great having permanent seats around the lake while entertainers may be floating around. It is also possible to make a demonstration venture for Cage Fishing. Buganda Government could look around for a Joint venture arrangement as the site can really generate good money for the region and Uganda at large.
It is good news that Muganzilwazza Building which was recently opened by His Highness Kabaka Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II has got one potential tenant in the name of Nakumatt and they are soon opening.
William Kituuka Kiwanuka/
wkituuka@gmail.com
One of the roads leading to the Lake from the side of the Palace
The view of the lake with a boat
Cattle grazing by the side of the lake
Sugar cane, Pawpaws and many other fruit trees grow
A beautiful island with well organized trees
A volunteer working on slashing the grass
Water draining into the lake
Run off from the local water source also goes direct to the lake
In the case of the photo, some development almost reaches the lake side (pavements from a house)
The view with birds in the background is so good
The road by the lake side
In the background, what looks white are birds
Fruits aby the side of the lake
Birds' island
The metallic structure was for the King to have a better view of the lake after swimming, and next is the car washing business
The concrete channel which drains water from the lake
The channel narrows down stream
In the background, an island with Banana plantations
Better view of island with plantation
Clear view of dirty water
Part of the road where there is clear signs of drainage which leads direct to the lake
Part of the road which has water that does not clear shortly after it has rained
For some youth, the lake side is a place for leisure
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