City dwellers and party lovers are heartbroken after the Kampala Capital City Authority KCCA cancelled the city carnival (Kampala city festival) for 2018.
The all weekend party was slated for 5-7th October 2018. This would have been the 7th edition of a party that has been branded “the biggest street party in East Africa.” The carnival celebrates culture, unity and social life.
City dwellers have been used lively rhythms in concert every first week of October, where several companies have different stages with musicians performing from morning to midnight.
Revelers also enjoy aromas of roast and drinks; it attracted at least 3-5 million people from East Africa and other distant countries.
This morning however, the KCCA Executive Director Jennifer Ssemakula Musisi broke many hearts when she announced that this year the famous festival has been canceled.
According to Musisi the authority has used balance from sponsorships to improving education (KCCA schools) and health centres in the city. KCCA has 79 schools which they now want to rehabilitate and improve them.
“We have seen a lot of improvement, we have been renovating buildings, roofing, building toilets providing water, removing asbestos, providing scholastic materials and improving teachers’ houses” she said.
1.9 bn Shillings is needed by KCAA to remove all asbestos in the city schools. Some of the partners/ sponsors including beer companies, corporate entities like Banks among others.
“We have been consulting and discussing and we have agreed that this year, we should focus the contributions of our partners on implementing projects in schools and health centres. We are focusing on removing asbestos from schools so that our children are not exposed to cancer” the ED said.
Musisi says they will start with Nakivubo blue primary school and Nakivubo settlement before moving on to other school. The authority also has plans construct a maternity ward for Kiswa health center in Nakawa division. KCCA health centers handle 400 child deliveries a week.
The Executive Director also revealed that the authority management has been contributing monthly to the school projects and that they have now started a new campaign dubbed “2K” which encourages every KCCA employee to contribute 2000 shillings per month towards rehabilitation of the schools.
“We shall not have the street event this year, we want to take all the money and use it for these projects, so that we can improve the lives of our people and children in schools” Musisi says.
She also revealed that people who had paid for stalls will have their monies refunded; however those who want to donate it to the cause are also welcome.
