The Queen of England will stay at Serena Hotel in Kampala during the commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), due in November next year. This was announced in a report circulated in parliament by Foreign affairs minister Sam Kutesa.
After months of assumption, with some hinting that the Queen would put up at the new state house building in Entebbe, the choice has now landed on the recently opened splendid five star Serena Hotel. Tight security measures will be put in place to protect Her Majesty and other 53 Heads of states in Serena hotel during the five days conference; a new radar system will be installed at Entebbe Airport and an additional security tower, an aircraft parking and VIP terminal building will be built. Other security plans include upgrading Kasese aerodrome and new landing sites at Lake Victoria. The government is also acquiring new equipments for investigation, computing, communication, counter terrorism operations, as well as setting up training programmes for security personnel.
The commonwealth secretariat undertook to facilitate the training of the Uganda police in human rights issues and has emphasized the need for security to work with a human face during CHOGM meeting. The security concern are personal protection of her majesty, the Queen and other heads of delegations, the venue of the conference, dinners and other side events, the airport, high ways and junctions where guests will be passing as well as their residents and visit areas like the source of the Nile and Lake Victorian islands. The Minister further stressed that government has undertaken consultation with a number of Commonwealth countries including the UK, and South Africa, on how possible collaboration and assistance relating to equipment, sharing experiences and training to strengthen the security during the conference. Uganda as country commonly know as ‘The pearl of Africa’ stands to benefit from CHOGM, improvement of basic infrastructure, such as roads and communication services, hotel expansion and tourism promotion, business opportunities, service delivery, beautification and hygiene, as well as employment and publicity for the country will be much improved.