{UAH} Uganda House: Where senior citizens love to converge - Thought and Ideas - monitor.co.ug

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Home. On any day, you will notice a group of elderly people either conversing in groups or relaxing at Uganda House, the home of Uganda Peoples Congress party. Sunday Monitor's Allan Chekwech finds out why they like the place.

IIt is a warm Wednesday morning and the scattered clouds occasionally allow the sun to give Kampala a smile. 
But the streets are busy; the cars hoot, the taxi touts do their Kireka, Banda, Bweyogerere lyrics, and the movements in no particular direction keep Kampala alive. Then there is a group of people coolly milling around a major building in town.

Uganda House, the home of Uganda Peoples Congress party, is a host of the several senior citizens.
From morning to evening, the men, who seem to be in their late 60s and 70s, come one by one. Most of them know each other. And they will pleasantly shake each other's hands and enter conversations.
Some sit on the verandah facing Orient Bank while others sit just after Café Bravo. 
So what is special about this place? Is it a pass time venue?
No, Joseph Owori, a former civil servant, says. He indicates that the House is the greatest building in the country.

"This house," pointing at Uganda House, and particularly the Sixth Floor, where UPC's offices are, "is for the UPC members. We contributed to its construction and it remains in our hearts," he says. Owori, however, adds that the place is a meeting point for the group. "By the way, UPC pays some of the senior members an allowance," Owori adds, although he does not disclose why and how much they are paid if at all.

As we conversed, a man, with a grey afro and wearing navy-blue suit with a red tie, was comfortably taking a nap on the verandah near Café Bravo. That man, Owori says, is a UPC diehard and is among those given n allowance. Mr Owori also says Uganda House is a convenient meeting point for many people in the city, given its strategic location.

I was lucky, so to say, that I overheard a conversation among another group. They complained bitterly about legal matters. They did not talk about UPC. But when the group disintegrated, I approached one of them for a chat. He doesn't tell me his name, but says he is from the east but worked in Mubende and lived there. He is abreast with current affairs; but mostly, disappointed with the current regime.

Issues
The senior citizens will occasionally talk about the building; they particularly hint at the need for refurbishment and how no other government has achieved what Obote's did. As I conversed with some of them, a band played in the distance. The sound was familiar. It brought with it the UPC song, 'Ohhh mama, UPC, the congress of the people," And the group got excited. "That is the song! It belongs to the best party Uganda has ever had," one said.

The UPC party vice President, Mr Joseph Bossa, told the Sunday Monitor that their offices are open to everybody during working hours. "If you have a purpose, you are welcome and you will be attended to. But it is not a leisure park like City Square. UPC is a welcoming party," Mr Bossa said. He, however, denied claims that the senior citizens are paid. "We do not give any allowance. Even party executives do not get money, so where would we get money to pay them?"

Ambassador Harold Acemah, a member of UPC and also a senior citizen, says the party is not discriminative and always welcomes all people. "We don't exclude. Those senior citizens you see around Uganda House have a lot of wisdom. Some come on invitation, while others come to meet with old friends and offer the party knowledge," Mr Acemah said on Friday, adding that UPC is a party for all and that is why the senior citizens continue to pay their home a visit. He said during his time at the party headquarters, no one was being paid by the party.

The security guards at Uganda House say they are not bothered about the groups because the building receives several visitors and that it is a convenient meeting place.

The Milton Obote Foundation (MOF) owns majority shares in Uganda House. Records from the Registrar General's Office indicate that MOF, where former president Milton Obote was a trustee, owns 4,990 shares in a private subsidiary company, Uganda House Investments Limited, owners of Plot 8-10 on Kampala Road.