_______________

KABAKA BIRTHDAY RUN

MENGO - Speaker of Parliament Anita Among is on Tuesday, April 2, 2024, expected to lead a team of Members of Parliament (MPs) to Bulange, Mengo at the invitation of Katikkiro Charles Peter Mayiga.

The visit is to formally submit their support for the Kabaka Birthday Run scheduled for April 7, 2024.

In a Monday, April 1, statement on X, former Twitter, Among confirmed their support towards the Kabaka Birthday Run cause whose proceeds will aid interventions against HIV/AIDS.

“As you may be aware, the annual Kabaka Birthday Run is slated for April 7, 2024. Proceeds from this run will aid interventions against HIV/AIDS. The Parliament of Uganda will support and participate in the Kabaka birthday run,” Among said.

Among will lead the MPs to purchase the run kits, which cost shillings 20,000 each.
The run is under the theme: Men are stars in the fight against HIV/AIDS to save the Girl Child.

While launching the run in February this year at the Buganda Kingdom headquarters in Bulange Mengo, Mayiga urged clan leaders to spearhead the fight against the girl children and women from contracting HIV.

“Men should take the lead to save their mothers, sisters, daughters, and aunties. We can eradicate the threat by 2030,” Katikkiro stressed.

The run is one of the many functions that spearhead the birthday celebrations of Kabaka Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II.

“Kabaka envisions seeing healthy people hence the drive to stand firm on the motive of fighting AIDS, the run also looks at transforming the layperson in the country by fronting sustainable health. Social and economic transformation is determined by the health of a person, something that the Kabaka looked at to put into place the run where participants get a chance to burn calories that are in their bodies,” Mayiga said.

Airtel marketing manager David Birungi confirmed the company will continue to support the kingdom in the fight against HIV.

“We are here to support Kabaka’s efforts of fighting HIV/AIDS through sponsorship of the run, there has been an increasingly great reduction in the numbers of infestations which is a clear signal that the run objectives are being fulfilled,” Birungi noted.

Other dignitaries from the Buganda kingdom were present at the launch as well as the managing director of Airtel Uganda Manoj Murali.

The run has also got foreign sponsors like the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS who greatly treasure the king as an African ambassador whose efforts are not taken for granted.

Vision Group is among the sponsors of the event.