[UAH] A Bright Day for UNAA

--

Brian Kwesiga

Sent from my iPhone

Begin forwarded message:

From: "musanap@gmail.com" <musanap@gmail.com>
Date: May 31, 2013, 11:43:12 PM EDT
To: brian.kwesiga@yahoo.com
Subject: UNAALIST A Bright Day for UNAA
Reply-To: unaalist@unaa.memberclicks.net

Folks:

As a long time member of UNAA elections are normally a time of great creativity, both negative and positive.

A great number of ideas and non ideas are thrown about as to where our esteemed organization should steer towards. This year is no different especially in the midst of a new constitution which is still in it's practical infancy. 

The original Charter of UNAA; calls for the organization to maintain an Apolitical stance in regards to local Ugandan politics. And to its credit the UNAA has so far been able to navigate most of the political Minefields, by being impartial to any political organization. This has been done in spite of pressure by some member calls for it to do so.

UNAA stands in the politically unique position of whereby most of its members want it out of politics, while at the same time criticizing it for not having political positions.

It should be recognized that the qualifier for membership into the organization, irrespective of tribe, religion, social standing or political affiliation is that one has to be a Ugandan. 

Which basically means that UNAA is made up of people who do not have parties, or are members of FDC, NRM, KY, DP,CP or UPC. In other words UNAA is all embracing with only one agenda. Uganda!

I have served UNAA in a number of capacities; from the local level up to to the national level as it's two time Vice President. At all times it was known that I was a card carrying member of UPC who had UNAA at heart. At no time was my ethnic and political origin an issue during my tenure. 

That is the kind of organization I will always be proud of being a part of inspite of its many challenges.

During my tenure one of our great achievements was successfully lobbying the Ugandan government passing the law make it legal to hold Dual Citizenship. This required Board members to directly engage the President of the Republic in this endeavor. 

We were roundly criticized for doing so because this was the period when Multiparty politics was being introduced in Uganda.  What many people do not realize is that some of the authors for that proposal are among staunchest members of the opposition. We have all benefited irrespective of our political leanings from this new law.

It's with all this that I view Ndugu Kamugisha's missive with sadness in that he of all people knows UNAA's apolitical stance.

If anything, UNAA has shown that it has the institutional wherewithal to invite both sides of the political divide without worrying about being accused of favoritism. 

Criticism is the price for greatness.

Moses Ocen 

Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone.

From: Rosette Serwanga Sent: Friday, May 31, 2013 18:47 PM To: musanap@gmail.com Reply To: unaalist@unaa.memberclicks.net Subject: UNAALIST A Bright Day for UNAA

Well said Timothy

Have a great weekend

Rosette

---

From: timothy.gaburungyi@gmail.com
To: rosetteserwanga@hotmail.com
Subject: UNAALIST A Bright Day for UNAA
Date: Fri, 31 May 2013 18:38:56 -0400

Dear UNAA Members,
 
The email attributed to Rev Kamugisha with the heading "A sad day for UNAA" is a personal opinion and is not an accurate reflection of the hard work and principled dedication behind the effort to organize what is shaping out to be UNAA's most memorable convention.
 
The Executive Director General of Oxfam, a distinguished Ugandan personality who has lived with us in the diaspora for several years, Eng. Winnie Byanyima, has been invited as a featured speaker. She will grace our event alongside other featured speakers like the Mayor of Dallas. The list of featured speakers is by no means complete so any indication that it lacks diversity is simply without foundation.
 
The 25^th Annual UNAA Convention is going to be hosted in Dallas, Texas also known as Oil Country. It is therefore of strategic interest to UNAA's members to hear from the developing Oil Industry in Uganda. The expectation is that our members will explore opportunities which can be exploited by forming partnerships with Dallas oil entities and importing needed specialized oil industry skills and services into Uganda. That is the specific objective for inviting the President of Tullow Oil Uganda as a Keynote speaker for UNAA Dallas 2013. If the President of Tullow Oil Uganda was of Chinese extraction and a member of the Communist Party, that is who would have been our Keynote Speaker.
 
Thankfully UNAA members have time and again rejected all efforts to get divided along personal political and ethnic views and there is every expectation that this continues to be so today. This fact alone makes it a brighter day for UNAA.
 
Have a nice weekend, God Bless you all and God Bless the Ugandan North American Association.
 
Tim Gaburungyi
Director of Development
Ugandan North American Association (UNAA)
Cell : 914 439 6417
www.unaa.org

UNAA Dallas 2013 - Silver Jubilee Convention : Harnessing the Power of the Diaspora

Ugandan North America Association . 1337 Massachusetts Avenue . Suite 153 . Arlington. MA . 02476

Email: info@unaa.org

Ugandan North America Association . 1337 Massachusetts Avenue . Suite 153 . Arlington. MA . 02476

Email: info@unaa.org

Ugandan North America Association . 1337 Massachusetts Avenue . Suite 153 . Arlington. MA . 02476

Email: info@unaa.org