Envoy says Kampala boda bodas, potholes ‘tourist attractions’
Mr Nicholas Demeter, a business development consultant, clad in kilt made out of ties during the 2023 St Andrew’s Ball at the Sheraton Hotel in Kampala on November 25, 2023. PHOTO/ STEPHEN OTAGE
What you need to know:
- The ambassador says after 23 years of staying away from Uganda, they have returned to the country because it is hospitable, with kind people.
The Irish Ambassador to Uganda, Mr Kevin Colgan, has advised tourists intending to visit some of Uganda’s breath-taking sceneries to view what he called Uganda’s “crater potholes in Kampala industrial area.”
He said in the same area, they will also find enjoyable “wild herds” of reckless boda boda riders.
While he applauded Uganda as one of the most beautiful countries in the world, with green and lush game parks, the Source of the Nile and crater lakes in Western Uganda, he decried the “crater potholes,” in Kampala.
“You don’t need to go outside of Kampala to see the great crater lakes. All you need to do is drive around Industrial Area and you will see all the lakes you need, from herds of game at Murchison Falls, to herds of boda’s on the streets of Kampala, there is a wildness to it all that we love dearly,” he said.
He was speaking during the St Andrew’s Ball 2023 held in Kampala at the weekend.
Sections of some roads in the Industrial Area in Kampala, specifically 5th, 6th and 7th Streets, have become notorious for big potholes which are impassable as they flood whenever it rains.
In some cases, vehicles and human beings have drowned in open manholes due to poor drainage.
The ambassador said after 23 years of staying away from Uganda, they have returned to the country because it’s hospitable, with kind people.
Craters are flat floor depressions, formed when explosions and eruptions of gases blow off the rocks, at the surface, leaving a shallow circular depression. They are mostly found in Kabale District, in western Uganda.
He explained to the members of the Caledonian Society of Uganda that Uganda is safe and host to 1.6m refugees, has many cultural delights such as the graceful dancing, the singing in Karamoja and the night clubs that entertain till wee hours.
“It has vast churches and many complex languages. The country’s food is constant a bit like its politics, from matooke and goat, to Irish potatoes, to ground nut sauce which you will get in the North, South, East and West but the one which beats them all that was written about in the New York times, is the humble Rolex, which has been recognised as Uganda’s contribution to the culinary world because it is the best hangover cure in the World,” he said.
James Macbeth Forbes, the chairman Caledonian Society of Uganda, said for more than 100 years, St Andrew’s Ball has been a century of joy, camaraderie, which is a beacon of tradition uniting hearts and minds in the name of festivity and friendship. He said this ball is a legacy built on values of community, laughter and the enduring bond that connects all human beings.
