{UAH} State House Entebbe (Government House): From Today To The Original Building.

(Photos attached)

This was the official residence of the Governor of the Ugandan Protectorate as they called this country during colonialism until independence in 1962. The British governor was essentially Her Majesty's Administrator of the entire country.  Most British-made extensions and renovations were done whenever senior British government officials or royalty were to visit Uganda (for example when Winston Churchill came around and called Uganda "The Pearl of Africa!")

The colonial building had several very posh self-contained VIP quarters for each dignitary.

The photographers who took these pictures all stood at almost the same spot... in the exotic rear garden.

The first picture is State House as it is today. The second picture is the last renovation/extension by the British, the State House I once called home. Handed over by the British government to Uganda at independence. A real Victorian architecture building which also had an opulent main entrance and a great British interior decor with priceless paintings, luxury Buckingham palace-style furniture, an old clean library with probably very rare ancient books, precious ancient Iranian rags, state cutlery, unique door handles, an antique piano room, long heavy curtains, and a life size painting of African independence martyr Patrice Lumumba at the majestic stairs which was the only thing (besides technological upgrades) that my father added in the building. He made sure that everything was well maintained because since his days serving in the colonial army, he had grown alot of respect for everything British (British engineering, British know-how, British administration...etc), but he needed to put at least one artifact that expressed his high sense of Panafricanism.

There was also an underground cellar that still had colonial wines and other old classic drinks from Britain which Milton Obote must have cleared once he returned in 1980 (the man was always drunk during his entire second presidency until 1985). The vast garden is where state buffets would be held. The trees and flowers had been imported by the British from Asia, the Caribbean Islands and from other British colonies around the world. Each tree having a bronze plaque with it's scientific latin name, the year it was imported to Uganda, and the location it was imported from. Though as kids we liked mostly the guava tree, ffene (jack fruit) tree, and the mango trees around the garden. Plus we enjoyed being chased around by "Kadogo", a tiny chiwawa dog given to my father as a present by Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia.

However the fish pond, swimming pool, tennis court, miniature zoo & exquisite British art/interior decor are no more today in the current bigger State House which was built from scratch in 2007 by a Chinese company after completely tearing down the historic British one which had rotted under the so-called liberators after we left the country clean and intact in 1979. The new occupants after us clearly had no sense of historic value and failed to maintain the great Victorian building left to Ugandans by the British, yet around the world older buildings of similar history still exist and remain particularly well maintained to this day by those who know their value and have learned to appreciate the architecture.

While the current State House, Entebbe is twice bigger and visually more opulent, it obviously lacks an air of history, homeliness, the unique classical British interior, and the related timeless aura.

By Mr. Hussein Lumumba Amin.

Tuesday, 20th April, 2021.

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