Bomb scare makes Nnaginda cancel meet with Ugandans in the Diaspora

Fears of a possible terror attack on a Washington hotel have made the Queen of Buganda to cancel her attendance at the 22nd Uganda North American Association Convention on Saturday.

Her Royal Highness Sylvia Nagginda Luswata was to give a keynote speech to over 1,000 Ugandans in the Diaspora at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Centre at National Harbor, located a few kilometres outside the Washington Metropolitan.

“For security reasons beyond our control, the Queen of Buganda Sylvia Nagginda will not be here with us,” Mr Moses Wilson, the UNAA president, told Daily Monitor on Saturday.

“But I have been informed a special representative will be sent.”

Since Friday night, the hotel has been under tight security and all visitors been subjected to screening.

However, efforts to speak to the hotel’s management yesterday were futile.

The Nnabagereka, who has been on an official visit of the United States since August 23, was invited by UNAA to fundraise for the Uganda Cancer Research Foundation for which she is the patron and co-founder.

During the opening of the convention on Friday, Mr Wilson said now is the time for Ugandans in the Diaspora to stick together for the good of Uganda.

“Our image has been tarnished back home (in Uganda) because of in-house squabbles but we should use this year’s convention to forge a way forward,” he said.

“Many people had spread bad news that this year’s convention wouldn’t take place but we had to make sure it does to salvage the association.”

This year, breakaway factions from UNAA have staged separate conventions and there is one in Boston -- that is running parallel to the one in Washington.

The UNAA convention closes Sunday, September 5 with performances from artistes Mowzey Radio and Weasel, crowning of Miss UNAA and a fashion show.