The Ugandan government has initiated arrangements to host the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in 2007. Fabrication for Serena Hotel the expected venue for hosting the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth summit has started.

Ugandan Foreign affairs minister Sam Kutesa yesterday said Serena Hotel and Nile Conference Centre would be the venue for the beginning ceremony of the summit, to be attended by 53 heads of government in the former British colonies.

The biennial meeting is going to be thrown open by the Queen of England, Elizabeth II, the head of the Commonwealth.

Kutesa, flanked by state minister for regional cooperation Augustine Nshimye Sebuturo and CHOGM 2007 executive director Hilda Musubira, notified journalists in the Wapakhabulo Auditorium at the ministry headquarters, that the leaders would withdraw to the secluded Speke Resort Munyonyo.

Kutesa said the Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Donald McKinnon, visited Uganda early this year with four people who inspected and approved the venues. He mystified journalists when he said the executive session would be held at a yet unnamed hotel being constructed on Nile Avenue by property mogul and investor Karim Hirji. “The Secretary General was here with a team of four. He looked at the venues and approved them. Looking at what Malta offered, we can put up an equal or superior show,” Kutesa, who attended the Commonwealth ministers’ meeting in Malta, said confidently.

Other hotels to host pre-summit conferences are Hotel Africana, Imperial Resort Entebbe, Sheraton Hotel and Hotel Equatoria.

The ministry of Tourism was catechized to rate the hotels and notify the owners of the shortlisted ones to revamp them. Over 3,000 guests are expected to attend the CHOGM.

Kutesa admonished the oppositions for trying to use the arrest of FDC leader Dr Kizza Besigye at the Malta summit to have Uganda disqualified from hosting the summit. He asked, “Hosting CHOGM benefits Uganda. Why should the opposition oppose it? 2007 is a long way. Why should you think that you will still be in the opposition?”
This commonwealth summit conference is going to be Uganda first time privilege which shows that Uganda is developing at a faster rate.

By Tanah Hadijah
Uganda Hotel News