Saving Kampala’s last green space through jazz

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When it was first established in 1908, the Uganda Golf Club stretched from as far away as Wandegeya and Nakasero Primary School to where the Centenary Park is now. All the buildings along Yusuf Lule Road were not there, and it totalled almost 300 acres in size.

Barely 100 years later, it is down to 130 acres, and just about Kampala’s last green space. But it is still fighting off speculators that would turn that green space into a concrete jungle. So this weekend the House of Jazz, an organisation which aims at developing and giving visibility to talented youth in music and the arts, will join that fight with a concert to raise much-needed funds.

“It’s a never-ending fight,” said the Club Captain Paul Rukundo at a press conference on Tuesday morning. “People do not see the need for green spaces in the city, but we need to preserve this environment. We need to preserve the only substantial green space left in Kampala, which in effect is the Lungs of the City.”

The Uganda Golf Club lies across the main drainage channel of the city, and any attempts to block it will not only worsen the floods seen every time it rains, but will be an unmitigated environmental disaster. Hence the need to draw attention to the pressures the golf course is facing including poor drainage, inadequate irrigation, deforestation and land encroachment.

The show, dubbed Orchestra in the City, will feature the Kampala Jazz Orchestra (KJO) alongside award-winning singer/actor Maurice Kirya. This is the second time the House of Jazz puts up a ‘jazz experience’. Last year Kenyan musician Bien, a member of the defunct Sauti Soul, featured with the orchestra at Latitude 0° in Makindye in what was quite a memorable night.

Speaking at the press conference, House of Jazz co-founder Jackie Karuletwa-Kakiza explained that they use jazz as an instrument in encouraging young and talented Ugandans to reach their potential.

“These are young people with exceptional talent, with the youngest about 27 years old,” Karuletwa-Kakiza said. “We want to encourage and support them to aspire for excellence. And that is what we have prepared, an experience that is steeped in excellence.”

The show, to be held at the 11^th hole of the golf course, will be preceded by a cocktail courtesy of Johnnie Walker Green Label. Other sponsors of the event are KIA Motors and Pinnacle Security. The National Forest Authority has also donated 10,000 trees to be shared and planted by the different golf clubs across the country.