Buganda starts Mengo renovation

Kampala. Buganda Kingdom has kicked off works to refurbish Mengo Palace.
Mengo is the official palace for the kingdom. Already, works on the Kabaka’s official house - Twekobe are underway.
Once completed, Buganda premier (Katikkiro) Charles Peter Mayiga said the palace will be upgraded to the 21st century standards Omulembe Omutebi.
The works include among others, repairing the roof and procuring a new dome for the main palace house.
Other amenities such as the Kabaka’s office, a conference room and banquet hall for high level dignitaries will be re-established, according to kingdom officials.
Some of the roads within the palace and near Twekobe will be tarmacked while the main entrance will also be modernised.
For example, the two lion statues on each side of the gate will be made bigger so that they fit the standards of the new palace.

A landscape designer is currently working on a new design of the kingdom gardens that lie in front of the palace main gate.
“The ownership of this palace was returned to us in December 1997 from the central government. We made renovations to enable the kingdom host the Kabaka’s wedding in 1999 and completed the works in 2002. Since then, nothing had really been done and there was need to renovate it to fit today’s standards,” Mr Mayiga said after touring the works on Thursday.
He also said the kingdom’s culture and norms will be followed throughout the project.
Mr Mayiga said Kabaka Mutebi, will at his discretion, decide what to do with the refurbished palace once works are complete by the end of this year.
The Katikkiro also visited the Butikkiro, his official residence. The Joint Clinical Research Centre, which had been occupying it for many years, has since vacated the premises.

It is expected that once the works are complete, Mr Mayiga will leave the Bulange building and occupy his traditional residence. “The Butikkiro was the official residence. So it is important that the Katikkiro occupies it and be near the Kabaka as it was in the past,” Mr Robert Waggwa Nsibirwa, the kingdom treasurer and minister for finance, investment and planning, who is directly responsible for the renovation of both the Butikkiro and Mengo palaces, said.
In 2014, the kingdom created a board to oversee the redevelopment of Mengo Palace and make use of the 250 acres of land on which the palace sits. No conclusive report has since been issued as discussions continue.

Mengo in 1960s
The palace was a beehive of activity until the 1966 when, on the orders of former president Apollo Milton Obote, the army attacked it and deposed Sir Edward Muteesa II. Between 1966 and 1997, Mengo was an army barracks.

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