Expedite Nendha Hill Unesco status - Kadaga
A file photo showing Kisubi Mwoleke,inset, the traditional healer at Nendha hill praying to the spirits requesting their permission to allow a visitor tour the site.
What you need to know:
- Nendha Hill is a 15 minutes’ drive from Iganga town and overlooks Busoga; from it, one can sight Jinja and Kagulu Hill far, north of Busoga.
The First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of East African Community Affairs, Ms Rebecca Kadaga, said plans to have Nendha Hill designated as a UNESCO heritage site should be expedited.
Ms Kadaga made the remarks in Busambira Village, Nakigo Sub-county, Iganga District last Saturday, during the thanksgiving of Mr Titus Kisambira, the former Jinja District LC5 chairman. Mr Kisambira was appointed commissioner in the Ministry of Public Service after he lost in the 2021 elections.
She said:“The problem with these things is that there is so much bureaucracy; we have been chasing it for almost 20 years, but we shall not get tired of fighting to see that it is designated as a heritage site,” she said.
Kadaga said Nendha Hill was the seat of Busambira Kingdom.
“We come from that lineage of royals and subjects who arrived here ( Busambira) in 1250 and established our kingdom called Busambira on Nendha Hill. We even have original structures where our great, great, great grandfather Omukama Wamala used to hold court and conduct business. When he sat on that hill, he said he could see the whole world.”
“It was a vantage point from where he used to work and he actually retired on that hill. Even today he is there as Prince Ndahura Byaruhanga. I am the 15th generation and the custodian of our culture and history,” Ms Kadaga said.
Nendha Hill is a 15 minutes’ drive from Iganga town and overlooks Busoga; from it, one can sight Jinja and Kagulu Hill far, north of Busoga. At its top are two water reservoirs believed to give fortune and answered prayers to people who bathe in them or sprinkle themselves with the water.
It is also claimed that the first agreement with the colonial masters in Uganda, around 1887, was made on the hill .
Mr Andrew Ntange, the Busoga Kingdom Spokesperson, agreed with Kadaga. He said Basoga migrated from Bunyoro. “The first batch, which later became the Base Igaga clan, to which Ms Kadaga belongs, settled in Iganga (Nendha Hill), while others settled on Kagulu Hill among others,” he said.
