Fond memories of the ‘Mkombozi’ in Kampala

I was reading about the forthcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), scheduled for Kigali, Rwanda in June this year, when fond memories of a similar meeting, some fifteen years ago flooded my mind.

It was in the last week of November 2007, when I and my then boss at the Arusha - based UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, Bocar Sy from Senegal, decided to pack our bags and fly to Uganda to join the thousands of delegates from 53 Commonwealth member - countries who were attending that year’s CHOGM in Kampala.

Apparently this CHOGM takes place every two years at which leaders from the member - states, all except presently Mozambique and Rwanda, which have historical ties with the United Kingdom, meet to discuss global and Commonwealth issues and strive for collective measures.

For our part, we wanted to raise awareness to these leaders and delegates on the crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in the territory of Rwanda in 1994 during which more than a million people were killed.

We wanted to highlight these atrocities and the subsequent international response to bring to justice all those who played a leading role in the commission of the crimes. And then pray that the world draws some lessons from this process. Now seeing what is happening in Ukraine I doubt whether we fully achieved this aspect of our mission. But then that is a story for another day.

Coincidentally, it was at this very same meeting that Rwanda, a Francophone country, which had applied to join the Club, was discussed at great lengths, with President Paul Kagame having also been invited as neighbour Uganda’s guest. It would take another two years, in 2009, before Rwanda formally joined the Club. Again this is a story for another day.

Knowing the accommodation chaos that accompanies such meetings in African cities I had the presence of mind to call a friend, actually from Bongoland, who was a manager at the budget and centrally located Holiday Express Hotel, at the intersection of Luwumu and Dustur streets in Kampala. He booked me a room.

Now I had been to Kampala before and had stayed at this very same hotel. I knew the surroundings well including the nearby seedy Sax Pub. The first time I patronised the pub I expected to be serenaded by some exotic jazz music. No! It was too seedy for that...you know what I mean.

This time around the whole area had been demolished and in its place stood modern shopping arcades.

I also ventured out to some local pubs in Kawempe and Nakawa to sample some Nile lagers and Ugandan ‘matooke’ and ‘senene.’ I was very warmly welcome. They would pick me out of my international group and say this is our ‘Mkombozi’ followed with some warm hugs. Apparently our soldiers did a commendable job when routing Iddi Amin’s army.

Departure day: flying from Enttebe was another nightmare. Flights were simply very overbooked. Using the goodwill of our UN office in Kampala we managed to catch a flight to Nairobi.

However in the chaos that was at the airport security desk I left behind my cheap mobile phone handset. I reported the same to the airline’s offices in Nairobi and Arusha. Fancy what? Two days Iater I received my handset in Arusha. Amazing!

The author is a veteran journalist and communication expert based in Arusha