Bakonjo victors again; shield disappears

Written by: 
NAJIBU NSUBUGA - nnajibu@gmail.com

After two days of competition, with different cultural groups showcasing the ingredients of their cultures, the 2013 Makerere university cultural gala ended dramatically.

At the climax of the festival, the Bakonjo from the Rwenzori Mountains were declared champions with 649 points ahead of Nkobazambogo, the Baganda of the central with 648. However, moments after announcing the results of the competition, there was a sudden power blackout. This attracted confusion as students started running away fearing that chaos might erupt.
Within five minutes, power came back only to realise that the shield (trophy) had disappeared. The shield is the major prize given to the champions of this cultural festival.

The whereabouts of the shield bred misconceptions among the students, organisers and the adjudicators. Students started blaming the adjudicators arguing that they had hidden the shield which had been placed in front of their table. However, adjudicators denied the students’ allegations and instead pointed out that the shield had been stolen by the students.

Disorganised start

However, even before the disappearance of the shield, this year’s gala started on a very miserable ground. The organisers failed to publicise the event reducing the number of students who participated in the event as compared to the previous events.

The event’s program was much disorganised causing delays in performance. This is the reason as to why the festival ended late in the night at around 10.30pm. The drama happened in the presence of the dean of students C.M Kabagambe, the guild administrator, and the student’s guild vice president Jeremiah Keeya, the guild culture minister, Guild Representative Councillors and students. The guild president Adeke Anna Ebaju shunned the two-day annual event.