Rwenzori region turns to tourism to polish image

Unlocking the tourism potential of the Rwenzori has been identified as one of the key factors to help bring sanity to the sub-region that has been plagued by tribal conflicts.
The sub-region, which is home to Queen Elizabeth, Mt Rwenzori, Kibaale and Semuliki national parks - some of the top tourism attractions in the country- has had a test of ethnic clashes, especially between the Bakonzo and other tribes in Kasese and Bundibugyo districts.
The clashes climaxed into the November 2016 assault on the Rwenzururu King Charles Wesley Mumbere’s Buhikira Royal Palace in Kasese Town that left about 100 people dead.
Mumbere and about 200 others were arrested and are awaiting trial on charges of treason, terrorism and murder among others.
However, for the last two years, government and the cultural institution have held dialogues aimed at finding a solution to the standoff that has pitted the two against each other since Rwenzururu was recognised in 2009.
The report of the talks, chaired by Dr Ambrose Agona, the director general of the National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO), was completed last year but it has been a tightly kept secret after it has handed over to Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda.
However, sources privy to the talks revealed to Daily Monitor that unemployment and idleness among the youth in the area contributed to the deadly clashes.
The same sources said after the government received the report, which, among other recommendations, called for a solution to such challenges of unemployment, Gen Salim Saleh, the chief coordinator of Operation Wealth Creation (OWC) programme, decided to camp in the sub-region to find ways of making some implementations.
Among the key factors agreed upon with the leaders was tourism, especially on the side of Kasese, which is one of the leading tourism destinations in the country.

Appeal
With the area being short of tourism recreation centres and accommodation facilities, investors are now descending on Kasese to invest into the sector so that they can be able to create jobs on top of tapping in the available opportunities.
As a starting point, businessmen and women hailing from the area have formed the Kasese Tourism Investors Forum. Last Friday, the first meeting of the forum was held in Kampala where a lot of experiences were shared by tourism experts and successful sector players.
Mr Amos Wekesa, the chief executive officer of Great Lakes Safaris, a tourism firm, told the forum that Kasese will not benefit from the abundant tourism potential if people there do not unite.
He said the tourism potential of the area has been underutilised, which has led to Fort Portal Municipality getting elevated to a tourism city at the expense of Kasese.
“Kasese and Fort Portal would have combined to make a regional tourism city but the problem is that the tourism potential in Kasese has not been touched,” Mr Wekesa said.
Giving an example of Mt Kilimanjaro, which has led to the fast growth of Arusha and Moshi towns in Tanzania, Mr Wekesa revealed that Mt Rwenzori is enough to change the area into a tourism hub in the country.
“The Rwenzori alone would get the people of Kasese out of poverty. But the trails on the Rwenzoris are not marketed because of lack of rescue services and, therefore, we need to handle the quality of services we offer to tourists,” he said.
During the forum, the people of Kasese were advised to put politics aside and work with Rwenzururu Kingdom to package the Bakonzo culture and help attract more tourists.
Mr Siira Mutseke, a tourism consultant, encouraged the investors from Kasese to consider putting their money in community tourism, which will employ more people. Mr Mutseke also challenged the people in the area to package the different historical sites that have been subject to nasty stories being told about Kasese so that they become tourism sites.
“An American would love to come [to Bwindi National Park] to stand at the site where their fellow American was kidnapped to show that it is now peaceful. There also such sites that have nasty stories in Kasese that need to be packed to the world,” he said.
The chairperson of Kasese Tourism Investors Forum, Mr Godwin Bagonza, said businessmen and women coming together will help them share knowledge of how they can make a contribution in writing a good history for the sub-region.

Attractions
Variety. Apart from the snowcapped Margherita Peak, which attracts tourists to trek up to 5,109m above the sea level, Queen Elizabeth National Park is another tourism attraction with about 600 bird species in Kasese District. Others are Kazinga channel that connects Lake Edward and Lake George and Kyambura Godge.