The Cross-Cultural Foundation of Uganda (CCFU) in partnership with the Vintage Collectables Rotary Fellowship (VCRF) and the Uganda Railways Corporation held a vintage car locater drive from Kampala to Jinja on the 27th of October 2023.
The locater drive
The Minister of Works and Transport, General Katumba Wamala flagged off the drive at the Uganda Railways Corporations (URC) head office in Kampala.
While speaking at the event, Ms. Sarah Masembe, the Corporate Secretary at the Uganda Railway Corporation (URC) pointed out that the campaign is looking to protect historic properties and it was imperative to flag off the drive from the Kampala Railway Station and end at the Jinja Railway Station constructed in the 1940s.
Because of the urgent need to safeguard historic places, the campaign titled “Jinja City Historic Properties Locater Drive by Vintage Cars”, is aimed at raising their profile and calls for an urgent need to desist from the common perception that a city must have ‘modern’, high-rise buildings and that retaining cities’ historic central cores somehow diminishes them.
General Katumba noted that “Globally, buildings have been an important part of historic sites, especially in countries such as Greece, Ireland and England hence promoting built heritage tourism. We need to preserve and promote historic properties to diversify tourist attractions in the country.”
During the drive, stopovers were made at selected historic properties along the Kampala-Jinja Highway such as Ham Mukasa’s house/museum in Mukono. In Jinja, the Madhvani Building and Jinja City Council Building were visited before winding up at the Jinja Railway Station which houses the Uganda Railway Museum.
“Uganda is blessed with a wide range of historic sites, which are natural, historical or cultural and we should use them to our advantage. We should as well protect these places as if they are important to us and our nation.” The Deputy Mayor Jinja City noted while addressing the media in Jinja.
Challenges of safeguarding historic properties
With the effects of modernity, historic properties especially buildings are under threat due to the need to construct multi purpose buildings by businessmen.
Cities such as Kampala have had iconic buildings threatened or demolished while surviving ones are dwarfed by skyscrapers.
A recent example is the demolition of the Pioneer Mall, Uganda’s first shopping mall to replace it with a storeyed building. Watoto Church (Central Building) is threatened with demolition by its current custodians.
While speaking at the event to flag off vintage cars, the Minister for Works and Transport, General Katumba Wamala decried the need for custodians of Watoto Church Central to demolish the building, noting that “whenever you wanted to watch a movie, you would go to the Norman Cinema. Most of us from that generation have very good memories in that place. It will be sad if they demolish it”
What it means to lose historic properties
Losing historical sites cuts people off from their history, destroys the possibility of city-based heritage tourism, and creates identical cities to which people feel no connection or sense of ownership. It also means a lost connection with a shared past and a risk of losing those unique features that prevent Ugandan cities from becoming distinct.
CCFU’s Deputy Executive Director, Fredrick Nsibambi notes that “we need to work together to safeguard the important aspects of common heritage. We need to have and apply relevant laws such as the recently passed Museums and Monuments Act if we are to protect our heritage, especially at this material time when the appetite to demolish our historic building is increasing each passing day”
CCFU and VCFR’s hope is that the campaign will strengthen efforts to preserve and promote historic properties and ignite the interest of other stakeholders in collaboration. We appreciate other partners who contributed to the success of this campaign, including Baba FM, Oryx Energies Uganda, Uganda Police and the Kampala Capital City Authority.
CCFU’s efforts to safeguard historic properties in Uganda.
To strengthen efforts towards the conservation, protection and safeguarding of Uganda’s cultural heritage, CCFU has documented historical buildings, sites and monuments in the cities of Kampala, Entebbe, Jinja and Fort Portal and developed a book (titled ‟Beyond the Reeds and Bricks – Historical Sites and Buildings in Kampala, Jinja and Entebbe), map and an app that tells their history and significance. In Kampala, 53 historic properties were documented in Kampala and marked with plaques.
12 historic buildings, sites and monuments in Jinja. The Foundation placed plaques on four properties: Source Cafe, Railway Bridge, St. Joseph’s Cathedral, and Madhvani building.
To demonstrate how historic properties can be turned around, CCFU restored the historic building at Jinja Railway Station and turned it into a national railway museum.