By Timothy Lukanga
Kampala Capital City Authority has requested Parliament for Shs600M that will be spent on several tourism activities, among which include, holding a COVID-19 remembrance parade, an idea the Authority says was borrowed from Canada.
David Luyimbazi, Deputy Executive Director- KCCA informed Parliament’s Presidential Affairs Committee that the COVID-19 parade is intended to not just remember the lives lost to the deadly pandemic, but also extend appreciation to the medical workers that worked tirelessly to treat and save lives of the people in Uganda.
David Luyimbazi said, “This is more of a remembrance campaign, many people died, many businesses closed we can’t wish them away. Many countries are remembering this Covid-19 event as part of appreciating the sacrifices people made, the doctors, so this is partly tourism, partly remembrance. So this was an idea that was borrowed from Canada, where they are embracing it, so we thought Kampala would borrow it also and anchor itself among other cities.”
Statistics from @MinofHealthUG website indicate that Uganda recorded 170,255 confirmed of COVID-19 and 3,632 people lost their lives to the pandemic. According to KCCA, the Shs600M will also be spent on other tourism development activities like; holding a Kampala Tourism Expo, development of Kampala tourism brand & identity, digitizing Kampala tourism information center & development & maintaining 10 tourism sites around the city.
KCCA is also seeking for Shs2.24Bn to hire additional 150 law enforcement staff team to support the law enforcement function, while Shs6.32Bn is needed for payment of wages of the leaders in the various markets around the City, & additional Shs4.5Bn is required for the procurement of garbage trucks, although no single penny has been allocated to this item.
