By Chris Ahimbisibwe
Bushenyi district’s Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) chief Edward Rurangaranga did roaring business on Wednesday when he sold 200 UPC neckties to party faithful having kept the items for 20 years.

He charged sh5,000 per tie to the party members at a meeting at Hot Springs Hotel in Ishaka town. The meeting discussed funeral arrangements for UPC president Apollo Milton Obote who died in South Africa on October 10.

Members requested for party shirts. Rurangaranga ordered his daughter, Jennifer Rurangaranga, a designer, to make the shirts before Obote’s body arrives in Kampala from Zambia for burial next week.

“We want to attend the funeral service while dressed in party colours to show the public that UPC still has members and we still love our party,” said Yorokamu Kaihura, a 59-year-old faithful.

In his day, every May 27, Obote would go to Bushenyi to celebrate Heroes’ Day. There, UPC diehards would sing Nyamurunga (Runyankole for treasure), the name also bestowed on Obote as a rare asset to Uganda.

Rurangaranga told party members that “in hundreds and thousands, we shall contribute and make sure that we attend our president’s funeral service.”