Preserve Uganda Museum,Speaker Kadaga tells government

Kampala.

The Speaker of Parliament, Ms Rebecca Kadaga, has directed the ministry of Tourism to block the sale of the Uganda Museum, saying it is a national asset which should be preserved.

While commissioning the first national cultural fair at the national museum on Sunday, Ms Kadaga observed that Ugandans do not value national assets such as the Uganda Museum, local cultures and cultural sites yet these are important assets which form the basis of tourism.

“Sometime back, I heard that some people were planning to sell off the national museum land.
Madam minister, I would like to tell you that no one should be tempted to sell off the museum,” she said, adding, “Ugandans do not value things like this, they never visit the national parks, yet I can see the Chinese and Japanese have come here to attend the exhibition.”

She advised the ministry of Tourism to embark on packaging and promoting community tourism where houses are built with local fiber and reeds for rent to foreign guests for them to experience the traditional way of life in.

This is the first time Uganda is organising a national cultural exhibition, which according to Ms Betty Aliba, the organiser, was a private initiative which attracted government support when they visited ministries of Tourism and Gender and pitched the idea.

According to Ms Peace Mutuuzo, the State minister for Gender and Social development, next year, Uganda is hosting the East African music and cultural festival which will attract cultural institutions from Rwanda, Tanzania, Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania and South Sudan to exhibit the traditional, food, drink, dances and dressing.