God bless the Queen!
Nov 24, 2007
JOHN NAGENDA<br><br>Consider this column an old romantic, but this week’s title comes unabashedly from the middle of the heart. How warming, this once, to mostly put aside anguished tales of mass murderers and sundry other chaos; and instead sing the praise of this singular woman and her consort
JOHN NAGENDA
Consider this column an old romantic, but this week’s title comes unabashedly from the middle of the heart. How warming, this once, to mostly put aside anguished tales of mass murderers and sundry other chaos; and instead sing the praise of this singular woman and her consort!
At coming up to 70, many of my muscles and bones attest to that inescapable fact, but that’s only 10 years short of how long Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, have been married! Look at that, ye mighty, and despair. And, unlike Ozymandius, the royal couple continue undiminished, and not far from sprightly for all their endless years of service. For service it is, in benign and disciplined manner, a non-ending and almost unreachable example for smaller monarchs to follow.
If more monarchies were like this, surely the principle would be easier to swallow across the planet.
How fitting that celebrating their diamond jubilee the Queen and Prince Phillip should be back here in small but fiercely proud Uganda where all those years ago in 1954 she performed one of her first overseas duties since succeeding her father, King George VI: the laying down of the foundation of what is now called the Nalubale Dam. What goes round comes round, but magically so in this case.
Then you wonder: What if Uganda had not won the hosting of this year’s Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM)… What if it had been an undemocratically run country, or if the puny cries of our paltry Opposition had been heard as on their calloused knees they prayed for CHOGM not to come?
As the royal couple feed on some dainty Ugandan fruit this breakfast, perhaps (who knows!) this column propped besides their best china, and as they look back to over three days of a State Visit, and the opening of CHOGM, let us salute them to the full.
Your columnist had the rare honour and pleasure of shaking hands, and bowing the head, on a couple of occasions, 32 years since doing the same at their London residence, Buckingham Palace, during the first Cricket World Cup. It did not seem necessary to bring this up this time round, but on talking generally at the Queen’s Media reception I must have said something funny for the Duke rocked with laughter. My colleagues asked me what this was and were amused when I said that perhaps it was because I spoke understandably.
A short while before, on the drive to Kampala from the Arrival at the magnificent Entebbe State House, the unprecedented crowds all the way, joyful and yet disciplined, must have brought a lump to the throat of everyone who witnessed it. And no doubt to the royal couple too; also perhaps as they remembered their young selves 53 years before, and all the years between. The warmth of the Uganda crowds matched perfectly the early evening air. It was a pleasure to be Ugandan!
******************
The Queen, her husband, the heir to the throne the Prince of Wales, and his wife the Duchess of Cornwall (for whom your columnist has always held great regard, often expressed!) all came in, of course, by air. So did their Prime Minister; to say nothing of all the 53 Heads of Commonwealth Governments, or their representatives.
Add to that all the others, including delegations, the media, the youth, the business people: perhaps three or four thousands in all.
I had marvelled at how all this would be logistically possible at Entebbe, our comparatively smallish airport. To wonder was to go there, at the invitation of the Civil Aviation Authority chief executive, Ambrose Akandonda.
Once there I met, amongst many impressive staff, Kagoro Tusubira, Director of Air Navigation Services, David Amoni OC of its Entebbe station; only space stops me from naming more.
To me what I saw and was told, was enough to dissipate most worries (Inshallah, and touch wood!) And that was only at the Control Tower. In that above the ground bunker, there was a quiet professionalism not always present in our systems. Elsewhere at the airport this theme was repeated. Power back-ups were in place.
The Arrivals had just been unveiled, and emerged at truly international level. Another Ugandan winner.
To reflect on all those dignitaries arriving safely at Entebbe for CHOGM from the corners of the earth was to remember the uniqueness of the institution, and the potentially valuable fallout of its two-yearly meetings. The Royal Visit had been a stunning prologue. Now, after the official opening of CHOGM yesterday by its Queen, as is the custom, the Commonwealth could amicably commence with its deliberations.
Perhaps some might consider that a good place to end a good week.
But your columnist must report also, from the opposite end, the final beginnings of the end of that satanic organisation, the so-called Lords Resistance Army.
To hear how its followers are orgiastically finishing each other off is a clear signal of how this and other evil organisations are wiped off the face of the earth, many times with their own participation. In this case the brutal killer of Otti, and another Otti before him, and numerous others, all under orders from overall leader Kony, is still around.
Will he be the one, with the sinister new deputy, who will soon dispatch Kony himself? It would be smooth justice to the numerous fallen.
Celebrate in advance at this morning’s finals of the professional Futures tournament at ten at Lugogo.
Consider this column an old romantic, but this week’s title comes unabashedly from the middle of the heart. How warming, this once, to mostly put aside anguished tales of mass murderers and sundry other chaos; and instead sing the praise of this singular woman and her consort!
At coming up to 70, many of my muscles and bones attest to that inescapable fact, but that’s only 10 years short of how long Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, have been married! Look at that, ye mighty, and despair. And, unlike Ozymandius, the royal couple continue undiminished, and not far from sprightly for all their endless years of service. For service it is, in benign and disciplined manner, a non-ending and almost unreachable example for smaller monarchs to follow.
If more monarchies were like this, surely the principle would be easier to swallow across the planet.
How fitting that celebrating their diamond jubilee the Queen and Prince Phillip should be back here in small but fiercely proud Uganda where all those years ago in 1954 she performed one of her first overseas duties since succeeding her father, King George VI: the laying down of the foundation of what is now called the Nalubale Dam. What goes round comes round, but magically so in this case.
Then you wonder: What if Uganda had not won the hosting of this year’s Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM)… What if it had been an undemocratically run country, or if the puny cries of our paltry Opposition had been heard as on their calloused knees they prayed for CHOGM not to come?
As the royal couple feed on some dainty Ugandan fruit this breakfast, perhaps (who knows!) this column propped besides their best china, and as they look back to over three days of a State Visit, and the opening of CHOGM, let us salute them to the full.
Your columnist had the rare honour and pleasure of shaking hands, and bowing the head, on a couple of occasions, 32 years since doing the same at their London residence, Buckingham Palace, during the first Cricket World Cup. It did not seem necessary to bring this up this time round, but on talking generally at the Queen’s Media reception I must have said something funny for the Duke rocked with laughter. My colleagues asked me what this was and were amused when I said that perhaps it was because I spoke understandably.
A short while before, on the drive to Kampala from the Arrival at the magnificent Entebbe State House, the unprecedented crowds all the way, joyful and yet disciplined, must have brought a lump to the throat of everyone who witnessed it. And no doubt to the royal couple too; also perhaps as they remembered their young selves 53 years before, and all the years between. The warmth of the Uganda crowds matched perfectly the early evening air. It was a pleasure to be Ugandan!
******************
The Queen, her husband, the heir to the throne the Prince of Wales, and his wife the Duchess of Cornwall (for whom your columnist has always held great regard, often expressed!) all came in, of course, by air. So did their Prime Minister; to say nothing of all the 53 Heads of Commonwealth Governments, or their representatives.
Add to that all the others, including delegations, the media, the youth, the business people: perhaps three or four thousands in all.
I had marvelled at how all this would be logistically possible at Entebbe, our comparatively smallish airport. To wonder was to go there, at the invitation of the Civil Aviation Authority chief executive, Ambrose Akandonda.
Once there I met, amongst many impressive staff, Kagoro Tusubira, Director of Air Navigation Services, David Amoni OC of its Entebbe station; only space stops me from naming more.
To me what I saw and was told, was enough to dissipate most worries (Inshallah, and touch wood!) And that was only at the Control Tower. In that above the ground bunker, there was a quiet professionalism not always present in our systems. Elsewhere at the airport this theme was repeated. Power back-ups were in place.
The Arrivals had just been unveiled, and emerged at truly international level. Another Ugandan winner.
To reflect on all those dignitaries arriving safely at Entebbe for CHOGM from the corners of the earth was to remember the uniqueness of the institution, and the potentially valuable fallout of its two-yearly meetings. The Royal Visit had been a stunning prologue. Now, after the official opening of CHOGM yesterday by its Queen, as is the custom, the Commonwealth could amicably commence with its deliberations.
Perhaps some might consider that a good place to end a good week.
But your columnist must report also, from the opposite end, the final beginnings of the end of that satanic organisation, the so-called Lords Resistance Army.
To hear how its followers are orgiastically finishing each other off is a clear signal of how this and other evil organisations are wiped off the face of the earth, many times with their own participation. In this case the brutal killer of Otti, and another Otti before him, and numerous others, all under orders from overall leader Kony, is still around.
Will he be the one, with the sinister new deputy, who will soon dispatch Kony himself? It would be smooth justice to the numerous fallen.
Celebrate in advance at this morning’s finals of the professional Futures tournament at ten at Lugogo.