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ALL WELL. SECURITY VERY VERY TIGHT. KAMPALA CENTRAL ABANDONED. ENTEBE VERY QUITE.
BRITAIN’S Queen Elizabeth II arrives just within hours for a three-day state visit ahead of the Commonwealth summit (CHOGM) which opens on Friday.
The Queen, who is the titular head of the Commonwealth, last visited Uganda in 1954 before the country gained independence, during which she commissioned the Owen Falls Dam in Jinja now renamed Nalubaale Dam.
This was two years after her ascent to the throne after the death of her father, King George V1.
Senior presidential adviser on media relations John Nagenda yesterday appealed to the public to turn up in big numbers to welcome the Queen.
“We would like members of the public to be orderly and friendly,” said Nagenda, who is coordinating the Queen’s visit.
The Queen will be accompanied by her husband, Prince Phillip, the Duke of Edinburgh, who also accompanied her during her first visit in 1954.
Prince Charles of Wales, the heir to the throne, and his wife Camilla Bowles Parker, the Duchess of Cornwall, who are paying their first visit to Uganda, arrive tomorrow evening.
President Yoweri Museveni, officials from the British High Commission and other high-ranking government officials will receive the Queen at Entebbe International Airport.
The Queen, who is the head of the 53 Commonwealth nations, always pays a state visit to the country organising the CHOGM.
She will visit Mildmay, an HIV/AIDS centre on Entebbe Road tomorrow and address Parliament later in the day.
A number of guests are expected to attend the State Banquet in her honour at State House Entebbe tomorrow.
A lunch for high commissioners’ will also held where the Queen will freely mingle with the guests.
According to the provisional programme, the Queen will restrict her visit to Kampala, while Prince Phillip will visit Queen Elizabeth National Park in Kasese district.
Prince Charles will visit a project run by Action Aid in Kawempe division, St. Joseph College Naggalama and the source of River Nile in Jinja district.
He will also visit the Commonwealth People’s Space at Hotel Africana in Kampala, an open and interactive area where people openly air their views.
As is the tradition, the Queen will open the CHOGM as the head of the Commonwealth on Friday and leave the conduct of other activities to the British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown.
The Commonwealth summit is normally held once every two years.
Since 1997, the Queen attends the opening ceremony, but not the sessions.
She normally has private meetings with the Commonwealth country leaders, whom she has not met during their term of office, hosts a dinner for the heads of the CHOGM delegations and also attends a reception during the conference period.
Adequate protection has been made for all the visiting dignitaries at the airports, hotels and other areas featuring in their itineraries.
Local journalists covering the royal visit will not be allowed at the airport but will cover the arrival ceremony at the recently refurbished State House Entebbe.
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