Uganda Museum: A gold mine that awaits an investor

By William Kyeyune

The Louvre, or the Louvre Museum, is the world's largest art museum and a historic monument in Paris, France. In the year 2018, it received over 10 million visitors. If this were the case for the Uganda Museum where average entry fee is sh10,000, this would mean an annual income of sh100b which is about $25m. The ability to attract such a great number of visitors into a museum speaks to a wealth of content immaculately displayed and thoroughly explained to keep many a visitor interested in going back over and over again.

I recently visited the Uganda Museum in Kamwokya to look at the unseen archives of Idi Amin display. It featured hundreds of photographs never seen before of President Idi Amin together with some short film and radio excerpts. It was fascinating to go back in time appreciating the black and white photography. Indeed, for the day that I was there, it was the ‘most alive' section of the Museum. Away from this display, I toured the rest of the museum, it wasn't my first time there so there was barely any change from the display to what it was ten years ago. I will resist the temptation to write about customer care but instead focus on the bigger issue. It is time to improve on the content at the Uganda Museum and thereby the display.

Uganda is a country that is surely not devoid of content. There is deliberate need to capture the Ugandan stories and beautifully display them afresh. Take for instance, there seems a deficiency on the political story of Uganda. As to whether this is deliberate, I cannot tell but one can barely get the Ugandan political story. Names such as Semei Kakungulu, Sir Edward Muteesa, Apollo Militon Obote and Idi Amin which sit in the syllabus of Ugandan history are scarcely mentioned and yet this would be the perfect place to get these names alive. A Public Relations enthusiast may be quick to mention that the political story of Uganda reeks of violence and bloodshed but I believe it would zero down to the way it is presented. The National September 11 Memorial and Museum in the United States would be a good benchmark about how a story of great tragedy has been carefully preserved.

As it is, the Uganda Museum is not biased to a particular field. There is a range of topics covered such as technology, sport, culture and music to mention but a few. This presents a bigger advantage as it allows for more content in one place. In this regard, I suggest a deliberate effort to give life to the evolution of these various aspects. Take for instance, Eddy Kenzo dedicated his B.E.T Award to the museum and it is on display. And the only other musical touch at the museum are the cherished traditional instruments such as the Adungu. But imagine a Music Display which would take us through the journey of Ugandan Music from the traditional Adungu to the musical geniuses Elly Wamala and Philly Bongole Lutaaya then to the musical revolutionists like Juliana Kanyomozi, Ragga Dee and finally to the current breed of Eddy Kenzo! The same would be done with several other aspects as well to present to the visitor a relevant display that they can journey through.

With the above, it is clear that content is not the issue, it is the need of a deliberate effort to improve on it and the way that it is displayed. To further increase on the aspect of the relevance of display, I propose a strategic merge with two entities to the operations of the Uganda Museum. The first is with Kiira Motor Company. The manufacturing of cars in Uganda is in itself a technological milestone which speaks volumes about the future possibilities in this area for the country. The

prototypes of the cars already manufactured like the Kiira EV and the Solar Bus ought to be on a lavish display (free of any spot of dust) for visitors to feed on the story of how cars came to life in a Ugandan garage. The story of the Engineers behind the design should be at the Museum to inspire the budding Engineers to move toward that level of excellence. There could be particular days for short test drives for visitors to have the actual feel of the Electric Cars. It would be nothing short of visual pleasure to have the Ford Model T 1925 alongside these 21st century productions.

The second strategic merge would be with the Uganda Manufacturers Association. With several companies manufacturing products from Uganda, it would be a gold mine to walk visitors through the history of the manufacturing journey in Uganda. Take for instance the only pen manufactured in Uganda by Nice House of Plastics. It would be rich to have on display the first design of the Nice Pen, speak about the flaws that led to the latest design. Brands like WBS TV though silent now would be a good display to allow visitors know what initial private television broadcasting was like. The telecom journey would be another interesting area. The first UTL ‘Mango' phone would be a master piece and the landline phones which had the circular dial. To mention but a few.

Ending this thought, the Uganda Museum was established back in 1908, at 111 years, it could be time for the Museum to take on an overhaul. We need a passionate investor in the sector to take on management of the Museum on behalf of the Government and give it the status that it deserves. With the wealth of history that we have in the nation, the Museum is an area that when given the right attention will have a guaranteed Return on Investment.

May God bless the nation of Uganda.