The speaker of parliament, Annet Nita Among has insisted on canceling the Nyege Nyege festival even when Prime Minister Robina Nabbanja had cleared the event under strict conditios.
During the plenary ssession in parliament today, Speaker maintained her position that it was immortal for the event to take place at the expense of Ugandan children.
The festival that is scheduled for Thursday, 15 September 2022 for three days at the Source of the Nile in Jinja district was first held in 2013.
District woman MP for Tororo, Hon. Sarah Opendi raised her concerns during the session saying that the event which goes on during both day and night for three days breeds immorality including recruitment and promotion of homosexuality.
“What is the government’s position on this growing immorality in this country, and it is going to attract all kinds of people all over the world, bringing all kinds of activities that are non-African, non-Ugandan into our communities?” Opendi questioned.
However, Hon. Martin Mugarra, the Minister of State for Tourism, said Nyege Nyege is a huge tourism opportunity that has so far attracted over 8,000 tourists flying into Uganda and have bought entry tickets and booked hotels.
“As we speak now, around 8,000 foreigners have already paid tickets and have booked to come and sleep in this country,” he said.
He agreed that there was need to set conditions for the event to happen.
Following the plenary session, the Prime Minister chaired a meeting this morning with festival organisers and stakeholders to determine the fate of the controversial annual Nyege Nyege festival.
She ordered Nyege Nyege organizers to continue with event, with the presence of security to ensure law and order.
