{UAH} Allan/Pojim/WBK: Look, let’s lock up Besigye again, then we can all become rich and - Comment

http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/Besigye-house-arrest-a-tourist-attraction/-/434750/3152836/-/e9yowaz/-/index.html

Look, let's lock up Besigye again, then we can all become rich and

I am beginning to fear that Uganda may never break out of poverty, after we recently wasted a great opportunity to become a major tourist destination.

This new attraction emerged at a small township a few miles north of Kampala city called Kasangati, where a man called Besigye was being detained on his 60-acre farm since the February 18 election in which he came runner-up with 35 per cent of the vote.

Unlike another site, also in city's northern suburb of Namugongo, where Christian converts were executed 130 years ago and which attracts a million visitors every June 3, Kasangati was poised to attract visitors all the year round. The fascination with Kasangati was that the man detained therein is still alive and could communicate to the outside world via social media.

The beauty with this "Mandela-isation" of Dr Kizza Besigye was that the bill of marketing our Robben Island at Kasangati was being footed by the rich Western countries. All that Uganda needed to do was post a few platoons of tough-looking troops at the farm, and the Western diplomats and media would do the rest.

The first Kasangati marketing blitz was launched by ambassadors from seven of the world's most powerful countries, including the United States and the European Union.

Their Excellencies drove there in a convoy soon after the February election and our troops blocked their cars, requiring them to approach the house on the large property on foot, using a dusty, unpaved road far less inviting than the golf courses of Kololo and Entebbe.

Forced by an eagle-eyed commander to abandon their fancy cars, which no doubt contained undeclared gifts of gold, incense and myrrh. the wise men and women from the West fired off angry diplomatic reports to their capitals that earned Uganda new audiences in the wealthy nations during the Easter period.

And then someone wants to kill the goose that lays the golden egg by releasing Besigye! Do they know that it has taken 16 long years to mould a Ugandan in Mandela's image and the process is still far from complete?

As delegations continued to push their way to Kasangati Farm and were duly repulsed by police, a tourist industry started taking shape. Unlike the national parks in whose wild animals poor locals have no interest, even the poorest citizens wanted to visit Kasangati.

Groups of pilgrims had started making pilgrimages from as far as Rukungiri – Besigye's hometown, which was always famous as the farthest point for claiming mileage in the government public service.

Weekly prayers every Tuesday in different towns to seek divine intervention for securing Besigye's freedom were effectively inspiring people to take part in the trek to Kasangati, where the local economy had started changing.

Kasangati property rates for instance had started climbing impressively, from Ush7,000,000 ($2,000) per 100 x 50 feet plot last year to Ush50,000,000 ($14,000) this March!

European countries like France and Britain get tourists that exceed their own population in number every year, and who mostly go to see places of historical significance in Paris and London.

In Uganda, we are struggling to get one million tourists against a population of 36 million! C'mon guys, just lock up Besigye again and the visitors can flow.

Joachim Buwembo is a social and political commentator based in Kampala. E-mail: buwembo@gmail.com

Look, let's lock up Besigye again, then we can all become rich and - Comment

http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/Besigye-house-arrest-a-tourist-attraction/-/434750/3152836/-/e9yowaz/-/index.html

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