UGANDA AT 59: Do Ugandans still want ‘pompous’ independence celebrations?

Uganda’s 59th Independence Day celebrations are here, and like it was last year, there will be no pomp and colour due to Covid 19.

In this report, Nile Post finds out what it is that Ugandans will miss again, due to the Covid-19 restrictions.

For 2 years now, Ugandans are going to miss a celebration of pomp.

2019 was the last time Uganda held a celebration of pomp and colour before Covid 19 came knocking.

This was during the 57th independence celebrations.

Just to bring back the memories of these great days, it was usually a time when hundreds of dignitaries from across the country and beyond would gather at the scheduled venues and the entertainment teams would carry the day with their singing and dancing.

There would also be a fully fledged guard of honour mounted for the president to inspect as the public address systems blasted messages of patriotism with hundreds of supporters of the regime carrying placards professing their unending support for the government.

All this excitement went down with the arrival of Covid 19, and it is no doubt that we shall continue to curse this day of 22nd March 2020, when the minister for health announced the first case of covid 19, sending everything crushing and so was the independence day celebrations.

For two years now, the celebrations are held on a low knot, making Ugandans miss the singing and dancing to the independent Uganda they were always accustomed to.

From big playgrounds to confined spaces, with only a handful of invited guests, social distancing and wearing of masks which has become the order of the day, while the rest of the country follows the proceedings from the comfort of their living rooms .

As the country prepares for the 59th Independence Day celebration on Saturday, we move to find out what people miss about the pomp and colour.

Celebrated Buganda kingdom official, Israel Mayengo says COVID-19 in a way did the nation a favour from the waste of resource that funded this day.

“I don’t see any value in collecting hundreds of people at Kololo and listen to the president and his colleagues and visitors talk about independence,” Mayengo said.

Mayengo said that while Uganda celebrates freedom from colonialism, we are stuck in the colonial masters mannerism.

“We fire guns, since when did Africans fire guns when someone dies, for example? We are still atuck in colonial mannerism and there is no need for all that pomp on independence day,” he added.

Leader of opposition Mathias Mpuuga adds his voice to that of Mayengo, arguing that the lack of a common goal as a country has rendered the independence commemorations useless to the opposition.

But NRM’s director of information and publicity, Emmanuel Dombo disagrees with allegations of excessive expenditures that go with this day.

Dombo said that Independence celebrations can never lose meaning, for it is a constant reminder to Ugandans for those who paid the price for country’s Freedom.

“It is a reminder of our duties and responsibilities to work for Uganda and generations who are not born.”

Mpuuga, however disagrees with Dombo, as he adds that, “How can we work for them when we are leaving them in debt, under slavery by foreigners?”

To celebrate or not to, lies in the hands of the covid 19 pandemic, with others jubilating a sigh of relief while others hope to enjoy these momentous occasion once again.