BUSOGA REGION: First Deputy Prime Minister of Uganda and Minister for East African Community Affairs Rebecca Kadaga has promised to lobby Cabinet to improve the state of infrastructure at Itanda Falls, the site of Nyege Nyege festival.
Speaking during a visit to Itanda Falls in Jinja on Sunday, September 18, Ms Kadaga said the festival needs to be marketed and given priority.
“As long as Nyege Nyege is in Busoga, I will protect it and that’s first thing I am going to inform cabinet this week,” Kadaga said.
“I am going to inform the Government to help on the infrastructure, mainly the roads and electricity, because that’s one big challenge I have seen here,” she added to loud cheers from revellers.
This came as the festival, which began on Thursday, September 15, came to a close on Sunday,
Kadaga has been instrumental in defending Nyege Nyege, while several others were against it taking place, saying it is immoral.
Over 12,000 revellers attended this year’s Nyege Nyege music festival on the banks of the Nile, with relieved organisers saying it was a sell out despite earlier attempts by Parliament to block it.
Thousands travelled from all over the world, with most of them seen waving their national flags while enjoying the festival. The four-day festival has a total of seven stages, several art activities, and hundreds of visual arts stalls.
From native dances such as Kadodi to the Bwola and Larakaraka from the north of Uganda, the festival blends a couple of artistic experiences both local and international fusing vast cultures through music and perhaps re-assuring the fact that music and art have a role in Uganda’s tourism sector.