Kampala City without its carnival

The carnival was a good opportunity to celebrate and network with people from different walks of life and profession. The little ones would have the bouncing castles and enjoy performances from fellow children as well as acrobatics. It was a weekend to loosen up and dress in some of the most flamboyant costumes.

Stephen Asiimwe, the executive director of the Uganda Tourism Board told The Independent that the Kampala city festival has been part of the tourism social calendar.

“But from an institutional point of view, we respect the position of the Kampala Capital City Authority,” he said.

KCCA billed the carnival as an event where revelers share, learn, and network while acting as an economic engine for companies, organisations and small businesses to flourish.

“With Kampala in a constant state of change and regeneration, the festival projects the image of the city as a happy, cultural and warm place to be while promoting positive change to its public realm.”

At last year’s carnival, KCCA brought in top Tanzanian superstar, Diamond Platinum, but this year, Musisi says the event has been about fundraising and not fun all along.

“The creation of a platform for city residents of all backgrounds to network and just make merry was secondary,” says Peter Kaujju, the KCCA spokesperson in an interview with The Independent.

“We know that they were used to at least getting that one day off to be on the streets and have fun. They will miss out this year but subsequently, may be, they will have it back.”

Auditing the carnival

In that case, says Amanda Ngabirano, a lecturer of urban and regional planning in the Department of Architecture and Physical Planning at Makerere University, “We need it back but in another form.”

Ngabirano told The Independent that a city carnival is good but it was “a little bit exaggerated because of the expenses involved.” She says she did not like the fuss that came with it because the amount of pollution emitted on that day was so high from trucks, vehicles and motorcycles.

“The noise was too much,” she says, “Festivals are about people; and wherever these festivals are successful, you don’t see cars. It was actually a good idea that needed polishing to standards of other cities.

“What does it help if you organize a city festival and by the end of the day, the air in that particular area is so polluted?”

Carnivals in cities like Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, Cologne in Germany, Venice in Italy, Quebec in Canada draw a lot from the city’s history, tradition and culture.

The Carnaval de Quebec in Canada, for instance, has a long history of celebrations spanning from late January to mid-February and is often promoted as the “world capital of snow.”

In Italy, Venice attracts tourists from all over the world and every year, the city transforms into a cocktail of parties and fun with its distinct appointments of entertainment, gastronomy and music. But it is the world famous carnival in Rio de Janeiro that keeps attracting the largest amount of fanfare from around the world.

From mid-January to mid-February, the city literally stands still with hundreds of street parties locally called “blocos.” The carnival has blocos for everyone, from the elderly to those that cater for people with mental health problems.

In 2015, Brazil welcomed nearly a million tourists to the city for the carnival who according to Time magazine spent US$782 million paying for hotels and restaurants.

Michael Kabaziguruka, the shadow minister of KCCA and also MP for Nakawa Municipality, says the way the Kampala festival was promoted and celebrated did not make sense.

He told The Independent on Sept. 17 that the festival would have made sense if it was about celebrating Uganda’s culture. But, it was about, “some people simply showing off a few kilometres that have been rehabilitated; a fountain at Kampala Pentecostal Church.”

Kabaziguruka who sits on the Presidential Affairs Committee of Parliament says he wants the activities surrounding the Kampala city festival investigated.

Has the money KCCA used previously exclusively come from donors? Was the balance from the festival invested in social infrastructure? So how then can you cancel it to save money? If you are cancelling the carnival, it means the sponsors are not going to bring in money, he says.

“We shall invite KCCA management to present to us how much they have received and from which sources and how they have utilized the money.”

“I don’t see why the sponsors would now want to channel their money into these activities without the carnival. The reason why these advertisers would want to see themselves associate with the carnival would be to promote their businesses.”

“So under what circumstances would they say, since the carnival has been cancelled, we can forego that money?”

“This is like cancelling an advert, in which case they would want their money back. These entities are quite capable of giving charity on their own. Why would they want to do that through KCCA?” Grumpy Kabaziguruka, it appears, is determined to add to the gloom in KCCA this October.