Kasubi Tombs restoration a lesson, says UNESCO chief

CULTURE

Prof. Hubert Gijzen, the UNESCO regional director for Eastern Africa, has urged the restoration committee for the Kasubi Tombs to pay more attention to details rather than rush to finish the work due to pressure from the public.

He said that while the restoration has taken longer than initially expected to be completed, delays in such projects are anticipated world over.

An interior section of the Kasubi Tombs showing ongoing works

“You have to look at the materials availability, skills and capacity," said the UNESCO chief.

"It is quite common that you incur delays, I am not concerned about the delays. The structure has been here for more than hundred years.

"We won’t take 100 years to rehabilitate it, but I would prefer that we pay attention to details and may be take more time rather than rush the job just to meet the date that was announced or indictated,” he added on Thursday (February 24).

Prof. Hubert Gijzen, the UNESCO regional director for Eastern Africa, greets caretakers of the tombs during his tour

This was during Gijzen's guided tour of the tombs' restoration works.

He was taken around by Buganda Kingdom culture and tourism minister, David Kyewalabye Male and the reconstruction committee chairperson, Al-Hajji Kaddu Kiberu.

Architect Jonathan Nsubuga, who is the project manager, was present, as was the UNESCO Uganda team.

'A learning process'

During the tour, Gijzen promised to ask his UNESCO team to support in the documentation of the tombs' restoration for future lessons.

“Let us ensure that we learn from this disaster and from the reconstruction process. It has been a learning process. 

"I hope that we have documented the entire rehabilitation and reconstruction. I will ask my team in UNESCO to support you in developing a very high-quality summary documentary that tells the story of the rehabilitation and reconstruction so that we document them and we keep lessons to learn,” he said.

The visiting UNESCO chief listens on during the guided tour

The iconic Kasubi Tombs are the the burial ground of four kings of Buganda of Buganda: Muteesa I, Mwanga II, Chwa II and Muteesa II.

In mid-March 2010, the grass-thatched tombs were gutted by a huge fire. More than a decade later and their restoration is still going on.

On Thursday, Kyewalabye assured visiting UNESCO chief Hubert that they are on the thatching stage of the tombs and that before the end of this year (2022), they expect the project to be done.

“As we move towards the completion of Muzibu-Azaalampanga, our major threat at the moment is the fire disaster, whose implication in case of any outbreak, would result in ruining all that we have done in the last decade. 

"There is urgent need to expedite the installment of the permanent fire fighting system that was funded by the Japanese government through the Japanese Funds-in-Trust,” said Kyewalabye.

Buganda Kingdom culture and tourism minister David Kyewalabye Male

In 2001, the Kasubi Tombs became a UNESCO world heritage site and following the 2010 fire disaster, they were put on the list of world endagered sites.

Gijzen assured that after the reconstruction process, the tombs will be reverted to the regular list of world heritage sites.

After the rehabilitation works, UNESCO plans to embark on taking up other tombs in the Buganda kingdom to establish a disaster prevention plan as well as support the upkeep of the sites.