CHOGM hotels have started
Mar 17, 2008
KARORO OKURUT<br><small>A literary and socio-political analyst</small><br><br>In the countdown to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) that Uganda hosted in November last year, some people did express serious reservations about the many hotels that were coming up fast and disturbi
KARORO OKURUT
A literary and socio-political analyst
In the countdown to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) that Uganda hosted in November last year, some people did express serious reservations about the many hotels that were coming up fast and disturbing the Kampala City skyline.
What would happen to all these hotels after CHOGM? Would the owners cream a return on investment anytime soon? Our voices went hoarse trying to convince the ‘worriers’ that CHOGM would open the floodgates to international conferences since the whole world would know that Uganda has the facilities to host meetings of such magnitude.
Even immediately after CHOGM, some hoteliers were grumbling that they had been led on a wild goose chase; they were wondering where on earth business would come from.
Again we stressed: Big meetings like CHOGM, once successfully hosted, may not in themselves necessarily bring you all the money you anticipate. But they provide an opportunity for you to impress the world with your organizational skills and facilities. From then on, the sky is the limit.
Today the CHOGM harvest is being brought in; the dividends of having hosted it are pouring in. Just yesterday, the second ever Afro-Arab youth festival, which brought together more than 2000 delegates from 62 countries, together with several heads of state and other dignitaries, ended in Kampala. And that is not all. Come June this year, HIV/AIDS programme implementers from around the world will gather in Kampala for the 2008 HIV/AIDS Implementers’ Meeting, to discuss building the capacity of local prevention, treatment, and care programs.
Nearly 2,000 delegates are expected at this meet, representing governments, non-governmental organizations including faith and community-based groups, multilateral organizations, the private sector, and groups of people living with HIV/AIDS.
In the same month, Uganda will host over 500 delegates during the 35th session of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC). An advance team of the OIC noted that they had been tickled by Uganda’s success in hosting the Commonwealth summit, and were impressed with the facilities at Entebbe International Airport and Munyonyo Speke Resort.
The OIC meet will have some 57 countries participating (that is in fact more countries than the Commonwealth) and at least 30 heads of state and government attending. And if you are getting excited, I can only say ‘you ain’t seen nothin’ yet’ because we are just getting started.
It is obvious that Kampala’s credentials as a conference capital have been greatly enhanced and this presents a great opportunity for people of vision to begin investing in the conference industry. And for the farmers, all they need to do is produce more quality stuff – especially organic.
***********
Being a practising Christian, it would be very unlike me to share nothing with the faithfuls about Easter, which we shall be celebrating this week, with Good Friday – the day Jesus was crucified – only three days away. The advent of Easter will no doubt resurrect that never-ending tricky debate: which is more important, Easter or Christmas?
It is about as easy to resolve as asking whether father is more important than mother, or chicken is more important than egg.
Many argue that Christmas, the birth of our Lord is more important since if he had not been born there would have been no death and resurrection anyway – which is the whole thing about Easter. Yet others argue that Easter is more important because that is the only hope for humanity.
As I pondered these issues I recalled an old story which I though I would d share with you. When Jesus was crucified and later laid in the tomb, none for sure knows what happened to the cross on which he was nailed. Rumours abound about where the cross went. Many people would come up with kiwani (false) crosses, each claiming they had the authentic cross.
There was an Ethiopian queen who, after hearing the many rumours about the cross, prayed and had a vision. She then called all her subjects and told them to go and look for the true cross. “How?†They all asked in unison and amazement. She instructed them to go and get the twigs of a certain tree, tie them in bundles and light them. “When the twigs start burning, follow the direction of the smoke to the end. There you will find the true cross,†she said. The people followed her instructions, and after a few weeks of searching, they found the true cross – the old rugged cross! To this day in Ethiopia, a national day of “finding the true cross†is observed. And all the faithful throughout the country gather twigs and burn them.
Whether this story is fact or fiction is not really important; what matters is that each of us ought to be on a mission to find the true cross of Christ. In Christianity, the cross symbolizes repentance – turning away from sin; and redemption – God redeeming us from the power of evil and from death.
It also symbolizes a new beginning in Christ (salvation) and a journey to perfection, which is the one that the Lord would have us walk. If each of us in this country found the True Cross, a lot of our ills would be sorted out.
Those preaching segregation based on ethnicity, religion and such other primitive criteria, would think again. And the Ugandans who think fighting and killing innocent people for no reason other than access power, would suddenly find themselves armed with a new meaning in life and they would go all out to work at mending fences and rebuilding the lives they have shattered.
May this Easter season be an opportunity for all the faithful to meditate over the finding of the True Cross, and that if we found it, what a different Uganda this would be!
I wish you a very happy Easter!
A literary and socio-political analyst
In the countdown to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) that Uganda hosted in November last year, some people did express serious reservations about the many hotels that were coming up fast and disturbing the Kampala City skyline.
What would happen to all these hotels after CHOGM? Would the owners cream a return on investment anytime soon? Our voices went hoarse trying to convince the ‘worriers’ that CHOGM would open the floodgates to international conferences since the whole world would know that Uganda has the facilities to host meetings of such magnitude.
Even immediately after CHOGM, some hoteliers were grumbling that they had been led on a wild goose chase; they were wondering where on earth business would come from.
Again we stressed: Big meetings like CHOGM, once successfully hosted, may not in themselves necessarily bring you all the money you anticipate. But they provide an opportunity for you to impress the world with your organizational skills and facilities. From then on, the sky is the limit.
Today the CHOGM harvest is being brought in; the dividends of having hosted it are pouring in. Just yesterday, the second ever Afro-Arab youth festival, which brought together more than 2000 delegates from 62 countries, together with several heads of state and other dignitaries, ended in Kampala. And that is not all. Come June this year, HIV/AIDS programme implementers from around the world will gather in Kampala for the 2008 HIV/AIDS Implementers’ Meeting, to discuss building the capacity of local prevention, treatment, and care programs.
Nearly 2,000 delegates are expected at this meet, representing governments, non-governmental organizations including faith and community-based groups, multilateral organizations, the private sector, and groups of people living with HIV/AIDS.
In the same month, Uganda will host over 500 delegates during the 35th session of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC). An advance team of the OIC noted that they had been tickled by Uganda’s success in hosting the Commonwealth summit, and were impressed with the facilities at Entebbe International Airport and Munyonyo Speke Resort.
The OIC meet will have some 57 countries participating (that is in fact more countries than the Commonwealth) and at least 30 heads of state and government attending. And if you are getting excited, I can only say ‘you ain’t seen nothin’ yet’ because we are just getting started.
It is obvious that Kampala’s credentials as a conference capital have been greatly enhanced and this presents a great opportunity for people of vision to begin investing in the conference industry. And for the farmers, all they need to do is produce more quality stuff – especially organic.
***********
Being a practising Christian, it would be very unlike me to share nothing with the faithfuls about Easter, which we shall be celebrating this week, with Good Friday – the day Jesus was crucified – only three days away. The advent of Easter will no doubt resurrect that never-ending tricky debate: which is more important, Easter or Christmas?
It is about as easy to resolve as asking whether father is more important than mother, or chicken is more important than egg.
Many argue that Christmas, the birth of our Lord is more important since if he had not been born there would have been no death and resurrection anyway – which is the whole thing about Easter. Yet others argue that Easter is more important because that is the only hope for humanity.
As I pondered these issues I recalled an old story which I though I would d share with you. When Jesus was crucified and later laid in the tomb, none for sure knows what happened to the cross on which he was nailed. Rumours abound about where the cross went. Many people would come up with kiwani (false) crosses, each claiming they had the authentic cross.
There was an Ethiopian queen who, after hearing the many rumours about the cross, prayed and had a vision. She then called all her subjects and told them to go and look for the true cross. “How?†They all asked in unison and amazement. She instructed them to go and get the twigs of a certain tree, tie them in bundles and light them. “When the twigs start burning, follow the direction of the smoke to the end. There you will find the true cross,†she said. The people followed her instructions, and after a few weeks of searching, they found the true cross – the old rugged cross! To this day in Ethiopia, a national day of “finding the true cross†is observed. And all the faithful throughout the country gather twigs and burn them.
Whether this story is fact or fiction is not really important; what matters is that each of us ought to be on a mission to find the true cross of Christ. In Christianity, the cross symbolizes repentance – turning away from sin; and redemption – God redeeming us from the power of evil and from death.
It also symbolizes a new beginning in Christ (salvation) and a journey to perfection, which is the one that the Lord would have us walk. If each of us in this country found the True Cross, a lot of our ills would be sorted out.
Those preaching segregation based on ethnicity, religion and such other primitive criteria, would think again. And the Ugandans who think fighting and killing innocent people for no reason other than access power, would suddenly find themselves armed with a new meaning in life and they would go all out to work at mending fences and rebuilding the lives they have shattered.
May this Easter season be an opportunity for all the faithful to meditate over the finding of the True Cross, and that if we found it, what a different Uganda this would be!
I wish you a very happy Easter!