Jinja City Mayor-elect, Indian Ambassador agree to strengthen bilateral cooperation

Jinja City Mayor-elect Abdulhafidh Nagaya on February 5 met the High Commissioner of India to Uganda Mr. Upender Singh Rawat to discuss cooperation between Jinja and India.

At the meeting, held in Uganda’s capital Kampala, Nagaya was accompanied by Ambassador Mohammed Baswari Kezaala, a Ugandan diplomat and politician currently serving as the Deputy Head of Mission at the Uganda Embassy in Qatar.

During the meeting, Nagaya requested for short term courses under the program of Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation Programme (ITEC) for skilling Jinja city youth. It should be noted that the Government of India through the high commission gives over 200 scholarships to Uganda under this Programme but Jinja city has not been reaching out to benefit from the project.

The Embassy agreed to start with 20 scholarships this year and keep on increasing.

Nagaya also resurrected the idea of Construction of the Mahatma Gandhi conventional center at the source of the Nile in Jinja.  The pledge was made by the Prime Minister of India H.E Narendra Modi when he visited Uganda in 2018 but it stalled due to conflicts of where it should be situated.

Whereas government of India (the donor) had accepted Jinja near the source of the Nile due to the historical immersing of mahatma Gandhi ashes at the source of the Nile and even sent officials from the national construction corporation of India and the then cultural attaché at India high commission Mr. Durga Dass who visited and appreciated the proposed site, other stakeholders in Uganda wanted it to be built in Entebbe.

When the India team visited, it was taken around the proposed site by Amb Kezaala who was the focal person for this convention center at Uganda high commission new Delhi along with senior technical officers from jinja city council.

Unfortunately, Jinja city council did not come clear on the 7 acres of land which the national physical planning board chopped off from the 12 acres which the district land board had given to a company known as black eagle investments for hotel construction and recommended return of the 7 acres to Jinja city council for public use.

The board only allowed 5acres change of use from green belt to hotel development.

Nagaya however assured the high commissioner of the availability of 7 acres of land near the source of the Nile on land popularly known as chairman’s park as soon as he assumed office.

He also promised to convince his council to rename the road below the India temple after Mahatma Gandhi which the high commissioner greatly appreciated and proposed that if done, it will be officially unveiled on Mahatma Gandhi birthday late this year.

Mr Rawat noted this project will strengthen the brotherly relations between Uganda and India and also attract more investment and other opportunities to Jinja.

The mayor elect requested a benchmarking trip for Jinja youth to India to have a practical experience of the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMES) and exploration of different machinery for job creation.

The high commissioner advised the mayor to work with India high commission Kampala and Uganda high commission Delhi as well as Ambassador Kezaala who has vast knowledge on India to identify possible places of visit in India.

Tentatively, Ahmedabad and Rajakot in Gujarat state for small scale industries and Agra city for footwear were proposed by Ambassador Kezaala while the two high commissions will jointly identify additional areas.

The mayor will look for funding for this benchmarking trip for a visit to the National small industries corporation of India (NSIC) by Jinja city’s private sector and the city authorities to pick a leaf on setting up vocational skills development incubation centres for skilling the youth.