My American girlfriend canceled flight, says Russian reveler at Nyege
What you need to know:
- Nicolai, a Russian National attending the festival says that he was supposed to link up with his American girlfriend but she never turned up
Nicolai is a Russian national who traveled to Uganda to attend the eighth edition of Nyege Nyege concert. He says he had anticipated to link up with his American girlfriend he did not name but she never turned up.
She was reportedly discouraged by the US and UK terror alerts cautioning their citizens against attending public events in Uganda, including the annual Nyege Nyege festival.
“She cancelled her flight but I was already in Uganda. I was going to remain in the hotel room in Entebbe but I read somewhere on social media that there is security so I had to come here,” he said.
At golf course in Jinja where the festival is taking place, there is a handful of revellers on the second day of the four-day controversial festival that has been criticised by different clerics as ‘immoral’.
“Sales not exciting at all, I see less Kenyans,” a lady selling Uganda Waragi explained, arguing that Kenyan nationals often consume “a lot of Uganda Waragi” at Nyege Nyege.
This publication’s team at Nyege Nyege carried out a quick survey at the venue and learnt that relatively fewer foreign nationals were in attendance on the second day of the event as compared to the last editions. This, perhaps is because of the UK and the US terrors alerts issued two days to the start of the festival.
Some of the foreign revelers who talked to this reporter indicated that they were from Belgium, France, Austria and Greece, among others.
In what seemed like a security precaution, most of them were seen moving in a group of at least five individuals and avoiding large crowds at the venue.
Uganda’s armed forces comprising mostly police and the army have heavily deployed at the venue in Jinja, Eastern Uganda following President Museveni’s call for vigilance as revelers enjoy the festival amid terror threats.