KCCA refurbished public library opens

By Taddeo Bwambale and Nora Mutesi
         
The higher education state minister, John Chrysostom Muyingo has urged the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) to consider opening libraries in each of the five divisions of the city as part of ways to stimulate the culture of reading.

Speaking at a function to launch of the refurbished library at City Hall, Muyingo appealed to KCCA encourage more people to access to the facility and maintain it well.

“Now that this library has been revamped and there is an administration at KCCA that cares about orderliness, beauty and progress, I appeal to you leaders of city hall to manage this place well. Develop a culture of maintenance and keep it for the purpose it is meant to serve.

The KCCA library was donated to the Kampala Municipal Council by Mehta in 1955. However, the library was run down over the years following the turbulence and mismanagement. KCCA refurbished the library.

Muyingo urged KCCA to open the Sheraton Gardens to the public to serve as a reading and leisure park.  He hailed Mehta Group for funding projects that benefit local communities.

Mehta noted a decline in Uganda’s reading culture and attributed the problem to the lack of facilities.

“Good libraries are missing in Uganda, and the existing ones are neglected in a sorry state,” he noted.

He pledged to set up libraries in Lugazi and Jinja, which will be located on the premises where his father established his first offices in Uganda.

He appealed to institutions to donate books to donate books to the library to boost the libraries.

Mehta hailed KCCA management for refurbishing the city library, noting that it coincided with the family’s 125th birth date of their father.

Mehta commended the city executive director, Jennifer Musisi for her efforts to beautify the city and restore its glory as one of the cleanest cities in the region.