Uganda Community Museums Association (UCOMA), which represents private museum operators has opposed the Museums and Monuments bill, saying it threatens their ability to operate and the development of the entire sector.
Last week, the Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities tabled the draft bill, which seeks to repeal the outdated 1967 Historical Monument Act. The bill provides for the development, management, and maintenance of museums and monuments and formalize, control, and protect tangible and intangible heritage and works of art collection.
Private and community museum operators have, however, expressed concern after reading the draft, claiming that the proposed legislation seems to be shutting them down.
In a letter to the Parliamentary Committee on Tourism, Trade, and Industry, the UCOMA Chairperson, Abraham Kitaulwa, says that if the bill is enacted into law in its current form, practically all private operators will be eliminated from business on day one.
“In section 98 only those museums with a license issued under the old Act would exist on day one of enacting this bill into law. Unfortunately, no non-state museum exists because the repealed law did not recognize non-state museums since no one envisaged in 1967 that Uganda would one day have more non-state museums. The 1967 Act doesn’t recognize any other museum apart from the Uganda Museum,” the letter reads in part.
Kitaulwa adds that even the definition of a museum as a nonprofit institution in the bill leaves a lot of questions, asserting that while operations of state museums are funded by the government, in the private sector, they follow the laws of demand and supply.
“…..a private museum follows the law of demand and supply and closes if it can’t meet its costs and can’t supply what the market demands…the bill is a confused presentation that expects to promote private initiatives without profit,” he wrote.
Quoting section 19 of the bill, the chairperson further emphasizes that the law seeks to bring their private enterprise under the administration of government, a practice that has never been heard of anywhere elsewhere in the world.
“Management of Community and Private museums cannot be undertaken by the government. This is evident from diligent copy and paste work. No sane private entity survives under bureaucratic management principles used in government notwithstanding the fact the government has not been excellent at managing state-owned museums in Uganda. The role of managing non-state museums cannot be,” the letter adds.
According to section 6 (1) of the bill, the Department of Museums and Monuments is responsible for overseeing, managing, and regulating museums and monuments under the general policy direction of the Minister. They regarded this as a ridiculous statement that also puts privately owned museums under government administration, which is technically impossible.
Kitaulwa also notes that in contrast to the constitution, which mandates stakeholder involvement in the creation of policies, there was no consultation with the community or private museums in drafting the bill prompting the association to request the committee to send it back to its source.
“Consultations with all stakeholders will address the shortcomings of the bill. Should this noble proposal be rejected, the bill should restrict itself to state museums and tangible heritage to enable the ministry of culture to present a bill on intangible heritage after consulting with stakeholders,” he stressed.
John Ssempebwa, the proprietor of Ssemagulu Royal Museum also questions the provision which limits the proximity and distance museums should be from one another.
Section 16 of the Bill empowers the minister to define an area of operation, which according to Ssempebwa is regrettable as one area can have several museums specializing in different aspects of heritage.
Ssempebwa queries the inclusion of private museums within the jurisdiction of the department that also manages a museum in the bill. According to him, the legislation elevates their direct business rival -Uganda Museum – to the status of the regulator with powers to manage their day-to-day operations, recruit staff, establish wages, maintain artifacts, conduct audits, and set working hours.
However, Rose Mwanja, the Commissioner for Museums and Monuments notes that a section of private museum operators is just scared of being regulated thus pulling off stunts to delay or even kill the long overdue bill. Mwanja notes that over the years there has not been any form of regulation in the sector and the private museums have been functioning as they wish.
URN has confirmed that most of the museums neither have permits nor licenses with many being treated as any other shop in areas where they are and only pay trading licenses. The Commissioner also refutes claims that stakeholders were not consulted during the drafting stage. She says that the ministry held several workshops where private museum owners were invited.
“This is just another outrageous untruth. We have the documents. Even some of the individuals who initiated the petitions and arguments attended the courses. We are curious as to why they are now perplexing the general population. They have made a variety of assertions. One I heard was that Uganda Museums will act as the regulator, but this is untrue because the legislation gives the ministry regulatory authority instead,” she notes.
Mwanja acknowledged that the ministry plans to maintain a registry of what is maintained in each museum, both public and private, and to conduct audits to guarantee the safety of the antiquities. The commissioner says that private operators are trafficking these artifacts over time, although most of the things preserved in these private museums are significant to the broader public.
