Executive Summary
As part of the new leadership's initiative to make UNAA more accountable and transparent to the UNAA Members; the Executive Committee has been providing quarterly financial and progress reports to the membership. This is the third quarterly report on the 26th Annual UNAA Convention preparations. The fourth quarter report will coincide with the Annual State of the Association Presidential Address at the UNAA Annual General Meeting (AGM) at the Hyatt Regency La Jolla, San Diego, CA.
Fellow Members;
It is my pleasure to present the third quarterly presidential report on the status of UNAA and an update on the planning of the upcoming UNAA Convention at the San Diego Hyatt La Jolla hotel.
I hope you have all received and read the third quarterly financial report from our Director of Finance. In an even more progressive move, we are now displaying the report on our website - open to the public, unlike the last two quarters when it was viewable to only paid-up UNAA Members. You can see it at the link below; http://www.unaa.org/quaterly-financial-reports
I am proud to be presiding over the most transparent administration in UNAA's history - being the first to ever release quarterly reports to the public. Shortly, before the end of the month, we shall be releasing to you all the Dallas Convention Report - another first; releasing the report a full two months ahead of schedule; before the AGM in San Diego. I am committed and I ask your support in carrying out a comprehensive financial audit of the organization's financial books over the last five to seven years - as demanded by the UNAA Membership at the Dallas AGM. I will be communicating to you in the coming weeks on the necessary legal steps we are taking to have a complete record of UNAA's Financial Records.
As was mentioned in a recent communication, the room block that UNAA contracted for at the Hyatt Regency La Jolla was completely filled and even exceeded as of the end of April. In May we contracted a second room block under UNAA that is available exclusively to those who have registered for the convention. However, one can still reserve at room at this convention hotel but at the hotel's standard rates using the link below;
Hyatt Regency La Jolla
You can call Tel: +1 858 552 1234 or book online using this link: https://tinyurl.com/HyattLaJolla
In response to continued demand for hotel accommodations by UNAA delegates, overflow arrangements were made with the nearby Sheraton La Jolla Hotel. However, the room block contracted for at this hotel sold out very quickly and so the UNAA Executive has started the process of seeking a second (and even possibly third) overflow hotel to meet the demand.
An overflow hotel, Sheraton La Jolla has been arranged
To put this scenario in perspective, at the end of the very successful 2010 UNAA convention in Washington DC, the finally tally of room nights occupied was 1,482. The final total registered delegate count was over 1,200. However, with still over 3 months to go, the number of room nights currently booked for the 2014 UNAA San Diego Convention is over 1,425 and more delegates have so far registered for this convention than had registered at the same time for any of the last 3 conventions; Dallas 2013, Philadelphia 2012, and Denver 2011. Specifically, Philadelphia had 195 delegates, Dallas had 330 delegates and San Diego has over 350 delegates registered thus far.
In short, despite the ongoing challenges, this year's UNAA convention is on track to best all other previous attendance records, and I thank you all for your absolute faith in the leadership that you elected. So for those who still have not yet booked your rooms for the convention let me strongly encourage you to go online (or call) and book rooms at either the Hyatt La Jolla or the Sheraton La Jolla Hotel at their current standard rate of $170.00 per night. Free shuttle transportation will be provided between the Hyatt and Sheraton. In you have already registered for the UNAA Convention and need a room, please email info@unaa.org.
Preparations for the overall convention program are in the final completion stages. A very exciting, informational and entertaining schedule of forums and workshops has been planned and will include the following:
* Trade and Investments
* Northern Uganda
* Ssenga and Kojja
* Health Awareness
* Politics
* Technology
* Breaking Barriers (an inter-generational dialogue forum)
* UNAA Annual General Meeting
* Special Interest Forums
* Special Religious Services
* Youth Events and Activities
As is now a traditional feature of all UNAA conventions, Saturday will feature a hosted lunch for delegates and Sunday will feature the "formal banquet." We shall be issuing more information about both of these spectacular events in the near future.
An extensive line-up of entertainment and entertainers is already on the program and final contracts already been worked out.
With just over three months still to go, more than 100 boat cruise tickets have been purchased. This is roughly four (4) times more tickets than were purchased for UNAA's last dinner cruise at the same time at UNAA Philadelphia 2012. More specifically, as this moment in time, the Philadelphia Convention has 24 tickets sold. We project that this extremely popular event will sell out well before the UNAA Convention. For those who are yet to attend a UNAA cruise, the event will feature a sumptuous buffet dinner and a dance to both live performances by popular artists and DJ music - all while sailing serenely on a magnificent ship, the Hornblower Adventure, within the spectacular twilight setting of the San Diego harbor.
We continue to work on improving upon and adding more features to what we have already planned and promise you a fabulous and well planned weekend. We are determined to deliver a convention that will go down in UNAA history as one of the very best - ever, both in terms of what is offered and in fiscal responsibility!
However, let me mention a brief word of caution. Security at this convention is going to be very tight. Only officially registered delegates to the UNAA Convention hosted at the Hyatt La Jolla will be granted access to any of the convention events (including forums and workshops). Access to the Annual General Meeting will be granted to only UNAA members in good standing.
With your continued support, as your elected leaders, we shall continue to offer strong and decisive leadership; making the difficult but necessary choices as opposed to the easy and fatal ones - we have learnt from history.
Now, I am aware that post-election periods often produce disaffected members. I will continue to reach out to those sections of UNAA's disaffected membership and leadership with humility and restraint, mindful of the sacrifices borne by an earlier generation and trusting that none of us would choose to place the association in harm's way - at any cost.
Disagreements may strain our friendships, but must not be allowed to break them, and at moments when our organization may become sharply polarized-when we are far too eager to lay the blame at the feet of those who think differently than we do-it's important for us to pause for a moment and make sure that we are talking with each other in a way that heals, not a way that wounds, in a way that unites us and not in a way that divides us. We have a lot of differences of opinion, ethnicity, generations, religious and social economic backgrounds; but we have much more in common than we realize or let on. We have a common heritage, and as immigrants we face similar challenges and a common destiny no matter how different the paths maybe.
In our individual and collective opinions, we all hold the very deep convictions that we have only UNAA's best interests at heart in what we have done, what we intend to do; that our differing positions and actions are steeped in principled adherence to both the spirit and the letter of UNAA's constitution and in our commitment to a prosperous and unified UNAA.
UNAA's has always survived post-election disagreements because we've always embraced diversity of opinion and unity of purpose over conflict and discord. We must with humility and restraint, be willing to learn from each other and with each other.
Rather than fault one another for the positions dictated by our consciousness, we sacrifice a little extra humility, stand really tall together and reach for the promise of a more united and prosperous UNAA.
There is no doubt that it is the harder path, but I trust that we can all agree that it is much harder to build than it is to destroy and that we are all blessed with the ability to take the higher road when faced with adversity. Now is the time to take it.
So Members of UNAA, as your elected leader, entrusted by UNAA's membership with the good care of the association, I reaffirm UNAA's enduring spirit to always overcome adversity even stronger, more united and more prosperous; to forever protect for all future generations that simple but powerful idea that UNAA was and always will be.
I would like to also thank members of the various communities who have hosted as in nine (9) months we have been in office. Under the Community Outreach Initiative (COI); the Executive Committee members and other members in leadership have made official trips to Kampala, New Orleans, Seattle, Boston, San Diego, Los Angeles and Washington DC to attend the North America Masaba Cultural Association (NAMCA). In Boston, I also had the privilege of attending the Mobile Van Clinic Fundraiser. We started the COI as a way of making UNAA more relevant to our communities; to move beyond being just a convention organization and begin having more impactful work. As a result, several programs have been established, including the Emerging Leaders Scholarship Program; http://www.unaa.org/emerging-leaders-scholarship
This weekend, I will be attending a community picnic organized by the Atlanta Ugandan Community, Saturday, June 21st as well as attending the 11th Annual International Community of Banyakigezi (ICOB) Convention at the end of July in Washington DC.
All these efforts combined constitute the largest community outreach effort in UNAA's 26 year history and are no doubt partly responsible for the record breaking registration numbers we are witnessing as the Director of Finance's report attests
Sincerely,
Brian M. Kwesiga
President and CEO,
Ugandan North American Association - UNAA
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