The cultural leader of the Bakonzo/Bamba Obusinga Bwa Rwenzururu, Charles Mumbere, has asked Italy and other development partners to help his kingdom’s socio-economic development plans. He asked Italy to implement scholarships in improved mountain utilisation and management, set up a research centre for herbal medicine and to restore the ecosystem in order to preserve the glaciers on the Rwenzoris.

The italian envoy commented that Aid is good but it must be used in the right way in abid to avoid distortions not only in the economy but in culture too.He said this when he was at the Obusingo Royal palace. He disclosed his government’s plans to to install meteorological stations in Kasese to enable the district monitor the ecosystems in the Rwenzori Mountains. Tombaccini said a 10-member team of Italian researchers will be in Kasese late this month to install the facilities to monitor the glaciers and the weather in the Mountains of the moon region. He also disclosed that his government was planning a very large and extensive multi-sectoral development programme to stimulate tourism in the area.

Mumbere also noted that the arrival of modernisation which accompanied the British advent into the Rwenzori region had subjected the Bakonzo to competition to which they must adopt or perish. Mumbere said this in a memorandum he read to a group of Italians who are set to climb Mt. Rwenzori as part of celebrations to mark 100 years since the Italian Duke of Abruzzi, Luigi Amedeo de Savoy, became the first European to reach the highest peak on June 18, 1906.

The chairman of the Obusinga Bwa Rwenzururu recognition committee, Constantine Bwambale, read the memorandum in Kasese town, in which Mumbere also asked Italy to set up a university and hospital in memory of the Duke of Abruzzi.

He thanked the government for the Universal Primary Education (UPE) and constitutionalism that promotes cultural identity. Mumbere commented that Whereas the Rwenzururu habitat is rich in soils, vegetation, climate and water resources, minerals and a hardworking population, the community is still faced with numerous challenges. He said these challenges included lack of technology, poor telecommunication facilities in the highlands,lack of energy sources to support the local industry, lack of infrastructure to accommodate the various Obusinga organs, lack of funds to secure the cultural sites and set up a museum and the receding snowline.

The Italian envoy commended the Bakonzo for their efforts to preserve their culture warning of the dangers of unchecked foreign aid and modernisation which would lead to bustardization of the culture.

For tourism to develop, there is need for communities to partcipate in preservation which leads to development. Rwenzori mountains is a delicate tourism potential that Uganda has and given the fact that the communities are ready to cooperate in the struggle tp preserve it’s glaciers, tourism development in the area will be enhanced.

BY NAMISI

Uganda Safari News