On Uganda’s Independence Day, October 9, the President of Uganda His Excellency Yoweri Kaguta Museveni bestowed Uganda’s highest civilian medal on 21 Uganda Asians. The same number has been approved to be awarded at a later date. It is no secret that the names were derived from a book on Uganda Asians that one of the awardees Dr Vali Jamal is writing.
October 9, 2013 – It was something unique that one country should award so many people of a minority at one go in celebrating fifty years of its independence. Since some of the awards went to pioneers at the start of the British Protectorate the President was honouring the contribution of the Asian community to Uganda’s historical development. He was also acknowledging their continuing role in Uganda and the wrong done to them in 1972 when the whole community, comprising some 70,000 people, was expelled by the-then president Idi Amin Dada.
Click here to read more: A historic day for Uganda Asians
Or view online here, http://issuu.com/the-times-of-africa/docs/respected_contribution
Ismailimail 