Government to equip museums with artefacts

The Ministry of Tourism has come up with three priority areas to uplift the face of national museums in Uganda.

This will include equipping the museums with artefacts like those stolen by colonialists.

This was revealed as part of preparations ahead of the International Museum Day that falls every 18th of May.

The aim of this day is to raise awareness of the fact that, "Museums are important places for cultural exchange, enrichment of cultures and development of mutual understanding, cooperation and peace among peoples."

Last year, more than 37,000 museums participated in the event in about 158 countries and territories.

The theme for this year's International Museums Day is: "The power of museums in conservation of our culture."

The Minister of Tourism, Tom Butime told journalists that museums have the potential to create meaningful experiences for all peoples to achieve their social value.

"As agents of change, museums have to demonstrate their relevance by engaging constructively in the politics, social, and cultural realities of modern society,"he said.

As educational and social institutions, Butime said museums are central in mitigating challenges of Inclusion and diversity.

He said this year's theme aims to display the "hidden potential" that museums have been keeping for a long time.

"These treasures shall be displayed in an elaborative manner by the personnel of museums to champion tools for identifying and overcoming bias in what museum display and the stories they tell,"he noted.

He said they hope to increase museum visibility to over fifteen thousand followers by end of the celebrations.

The objective of the International Museum Day aimed at focusing on the new roles of museums as active actors in their communities among others.