Prime
Mayiga wants names of 'thieves' removed from Ugandan roads, buildings
Buganda Prime Minister (Katikkiro) Charles Peter Mayiga plants a tree during the SMACK feast day on August 23, 2024. PHOTO/MIKE SEBALU
What you need to know:
- On Friday, Mayiga commissioned a new multibillion classroom block named after the late Dr Paul Kawanga Ssemogerere as SMACK celebrated its 2024 feast day.
Buganda Prime Minister (Katikkiro) Charles Peter Mayiga has recommended that names of roads and buildings named after “unworthy politicians should be withdrawn.”
“We see many roads and buildings named after some arguably unworthy individuals, some dating back to the colonial days, some in the contemporary times,” he said at Ssemogerere at St Mary’s College, Kisubi (SMACK) on Friday.
He added: “I think we should take deliberate steps to change that… if somebody was a thief, why should the building be named after him? If someone was a non-worthy politician, why should a road be named after him?”
On Friday, Mayiga commissioned a new multibillion classroom block named after the late Dr Paul Kawanga Ssemogerere as the school celebrated its 2024 feast day.
He also also commissioned a new school dormitory during the occasion for which he was chief guest.
Mayiga also warned Ugandans against politics of hatred, urging politicians to create room for negotiations like the late Ssemogerere.
Dr Ssemogerere was once the Democratic Party (DP) president and an alumnus of the school. He died on November 18, 2022 at the age of 90.
He twice contested for presidency and led DP for over 25 years.
Mayiga, eulogized him as a “politician with a high sense of duty, for whom politics was not a matter of life and death.”
“Paul Kawanga Ssemogerere was a politician and a gentleman and epitome of civility. He was always calm and an intellectual,” he added.
Speaking at the same event, celebrant Kampala Diocese Archbishop Grace Paul Ssemogerere said: “The future of Uganda lies in your hands, and it is your unwavering commitment to transparency and zero tolerance to corruption that will give our nation a firm path to sustainable prosperity.”
Brother Simeon Simon Mpanga, the head teacher of the school said naming the classroom block after deceased Ssemogerere was intended to recognize his dedicated services to their college.
Also in attendance was Germina Namatovu Ssemogerere, widow to the deceased, Buganda premier emeritus Joseph Mulwanyammuli Ssemogerere, Ministry of Education officials and officials from Wakiso District local government among others.
SMACK was established in 1906 by Fr Raux Modeste of the White Fathers Congregation.
